CHRGJ at NYU Law: International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship Program

ILHR Fellows at a September 2011 dinner in their honor. Standing, from left to right: Mateya Kelley, Carson Thomas, Kari Rotkin, Julia Torti, Bradley Nicholson, Diana Tseng, Maria Alejandra Etchegorry, Isabelle Figaro and Francesca Corbacho; seated: Joseph Rome and Scott Grossman

About

Eligibility and Application

Components

List of Fellowship Placements 2011-12

About

The Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, in cooperation with the Institute for International Law and Justice, administers a fellowship program for selected NYU School of Law students that combines academic and practical experience in international law and human rights. The International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship Program offers the opportunity to complete a specialized training program in international law, undertake a summer internship at an elite institution, and complete a substantial research paper growing out of that work experience. Established in 2002, the Fellowship Program is undertaken with support from the Public Interest Law Center (PILC) among others. A modest stipend is available for students selected for the Fellowship.

Eligibility and Application

Eligible applicants for the Fellowship are persons who are at the time of application full-time first-year JD, second-year JD, LLM and JSD students at NYU School of Law, in both New York and Singapore academic programs. The application, interview and selection process is competitive and rigorous and occurs during the Fall Semester. A description of Fellowship Program application requirements and process can be found in the 2011-12 Fellowship application.

Components

Fellowships generally focus on the areas of human rights, transitional justice and international law and have three main components:

Training Program: During the Spring Semester, Student Fellows complete seminars on substantive international law issues that are relevant to their internships. Most students with internship placements at the International Law Commission are required to enroll in a 2-credit course about the ILC in the Spring semester. For a description of the seminars, see Spring 2012 Seminars.

Research Paper: Student Fellows undertake a supervised research project on a human rights, transitional justice or international law issue to be agreed upon in advance with academic supervisors at NYU. JD Fellows, other than those with internships at the International Law Commission, may choose to do the paper for course credit.

Fieldwork: Student Fellows conduct fieldwork through summer internships at placement sites for which they have applied and been selected, generally for 10 to 12 weeks. The nature of the fieldwork experience varies according to placement site, but may include direct client interaction, legal research, work on domestic campaigns, attending relevant meetings, drafting research or policy papers, and general institutional support as assigned by the host institution.

During the 2010-11 academic year, there were 27 Student Fellows, with fieldwork placements at 21 prominent institutions, inter-governmental, governmental and non-governmental.

List of Fellowship Placements 2011-12

ILHR Fellow Scott Grossman (Class of 2013, third from the left) with colleagues during a visit to the offices of Justice Carmen María Argibay (fourth from left), a member of the Argentina Supreme Court of Justice, during his 2011 internship at the Association for Civil Rights (Asociación por los Derechos Civiles, ADC), in Buenos Aires.

Association for Civil Rights (Asociación por los Derechos Civiles, ADC), Buenos Aires, Argentina

ADC is a non-partisan NGO working to guarantee respect for civil and constitutional rights in Argentina and in Latin America. For fifteen years, the ADC has used precedent-setting public interest litigation to reverse situations of discrimination based on factors such as gender, religion, age, and nationality, and to defend social rights in areas such as health, reproductive rights, education, and labor rights. It also monitors public policies and institutions, proposes legal and institutional reforms, and trains other civil society organizations in areas such as justice reform, access to public information, anti-discrimination, and freedom of expression. While not a pre-requisite, proficiency in Spanish will enhance the internship experience. For more information, see http://www.adc.org.ar/.

ILHR Fellow Valérie Scott (LLM 2011, back row, third from left and right) with colleagues during her 2011 internship at the Bangladesh Legal Aid and Services Trust, in Dhaka.

Created in 1993, BLAST's primary mission is to make the legal system accessible to the poor and the disadvantaged. Key activities, often with the support of private pro bono lawyers in Bangladesh, include public interest litigation on a range of issues including access to judicial remedies, gender equality in ADR and disability rights, and advocacy in support of law reform campaigns focused on domestic violence, police reform, activation of the national human rights commission, land rights, right to adequate housing and slum resettlement. For more information, see http://www.blast.org.bd/.

Defence for Children International-Sierra Leone (DCI-SL), Freetown, Sierra Leone

Founded in 2001, DCI-SL promotes and protects children’s rights by documenting human rights abuses; promoting reform of juvenile justice laws and government policies to strengthen legal, social and other protections for children; and providing social and legal assistance to victims of children’s rights abuses. It focuses on four key areas of intervention: juvenile justice; violence against children; access to education for all children; and child trafficking and child labor. Work in support of the Child Rights Act of 2007, largely drafted by UNICEF and DCI-SL, focuses on children in the criminal justice system. For more information, see http://www.dci-sl.org/.

EIPR is an independent Egyptian human rights organization established in 2002 to promote and defend the personal rights and freedoms of individuals. It seeks to complement the work of Egyptian human rights groups by a focus on a group of rights and freedoms that are closest to the human-being: his/her body, privacy and health. EIPR explores the line between private and public in the lives of individuals and seeks to promote a debate about the State's legitimate powers and the areas it should not invade. EIPR focuses on three programmatic areas: the right to privacy; violence and bodily integrity; and health and human rights. For more information, see http://www.eipr.org/en/index.htm.

ILHR Fellow Amali Dinushika Dissanayake (LLM 2011) in front of the court building of the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia in Phnom Penh during her 2011 internship.

ERRC is an international public interest law organization engaging in a range of activities aimed at combating anti-Romani racism and human rights abuse of Roma. Since its establishment in 1996, the ERRC has endeavored to give Roma the tools necessary to combat discrimination and win equal access to government, education, employment, health care, housing and public services. ERRC’s approach involves, in particular, strategic litigation, international advocacy, research and policy development, and human rights training of Romani activists. The internship will be with ERRC’s legal department. For more information, see http://www.errc.org/.

Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, Office of the Co-Prosecutors, Phnom Penh, Cambodia

In 2001 the Cambodian National Assembly created the “Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia for the Prosecution of Crimes Committed during the Period of Democratic Kampuchea” to try serious crimes committed during the Khmer Rouge regime 1975-1979. Cambodia invited international participation due to the weakness of the Cambodian legal system and the international nature of the crimes, and to help in meeting international standards of justice. An agreement with the UN was reached in 2003; in July 2006 the national and international judicial officials of the ECCC were sworn in and in June 2007, they unanimously adopted the Internal Rules of the court. The first charges were filed in July 2007. The Office of the Co-Prosecutors (1 Cambodian and 1 international) collects evidence and makes an initial determination as to whom to charge and with what crimes, which is passed on to investigating judges; it then presents evidence in the trials that follow. Note: This placement is for 12 weeks.

ILHR Fellow Manuel Giménez, LLM 2011 (at left), acting as Secretary of the 142 Period of Sessions during his 2011 internship at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington, DC.

The IACHR is one of two official bodies in the inter-American system for the promotion and protection of human rights. (The other is the Inter-American Court of Human Rights located in San José, Costa Rica.) The IACHR is an autonomous organ of the Organization of American States (OAS); its mandate is found in the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The IACHR has seven members who act independently, without representing any particular country. Its principal function is to promote the observance and the defense of human rights. In carrying out its mandate, the Commission: receives, analyzes and investigates individual petitions which allege human rights violations; observes the general human rights situation in the member States and publishes reports as it considers appropriate; carries out on-site visits to countries to engage in more in-depth analysis of the general situation and/or to investigate a specific situation; requests States to adopt specific "precautionary measures" to avoid serious and irreparable harm to human rights in urgent cases; requests that the Court order "provisional measures" in urgent cases; submits cases to the Inter-American Court and appears before the Court in the litigation of cases. For more information, see http://www.cidh.oas.org.

Interights, International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights, London, England

Founded in 1982, Interights works to promote respect for human rights through the use of law by providing legal expertise to lawyers, judges, human rights defenders and other partners concerning international and comparative human rights law. The main focus of its work is strategic litigation – bringing or supporting cases in critical areas where there is either a potential for human rights standards to be developed or where existing standards are under threat. Interights supports efforts to develop international and regional human rights standards, often through support for developing human rights institutions, such as the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights and the European Court of Human Rights. Its regional programs focus on Sub-Saharan Africa, the Commonwealth, Europe, the Middle East and North Africa and South Asia. Thematic areas of work – economic and social rights; equality; and security and the rule of law -- are priority issues across all of the regional programs. For more information, see http://www.interights.org/.

International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), Beirut, Lebanon (1 student); and Bogotá, Colombia and Cape

ICTJ assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. It works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved. ICTJ assists in the development of integrated, comprehensive, and localized approaches to transitional justice comprising five key elements: prosecuting perpetrators, documenting and acknowledging violations through non-judicial means such as truth commissions, reforming abusive institutions, providing reparations to victims, and facilitating reconciliation processes. ICTJ is committed to building local capacity and generally strengthening the emerging field of transitional justice, and works closely with organizations and experts around the world to do so. Placements in two ICTJ offices are planned: Beirut and Bogotá. While not a prerequisite, for the Beirut office, proficiency in Arabic and/or French will enhance the internship experience, as will proficiency in Spanish for the Bogotá office. For more information, see http://www.ictj.org.

International Law and Human Rights Fellow Lisandra Fernandez (Class of 2013, far right), as part of her 2011 internship at ICTJ Cape Town, presents at a press conference the South Africa Coalition for Transitional Justice submission to the South Africa Department of Justice regarding new reparations regulations

International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), The Hague, The Netherlands

The ICTY was established by the U.N. Security Council in 1993 in the face of serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. The Tribunal's authority is to prosecute and try four clusters of offences: grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions; violations of the laws or customs of war; genocide; and crimes against humanity. The court consists of three "branches": the judges' Chambers, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry. Students can apply to any of the three branches and must rank their preferences. Note: The court requires that the summer placement be for at least 12 weeks. For more information, see http://www.un.org/icty/index.html

International Women’s Rights Action Watch (IWRAW)– Asia Pacific, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

IWRAW Asia Pacific contributes to the progressive interpretation, universalization, implementation and realization of women's human rights through the lens of CEDAW and other international human rights treaties. It facilitates a process through which the CEDAW Convention can be used as a tool for applying international human rights standards at the national level and in a wide range of contexts (e.g. political participation, armed conflict, rights in marriage, violence against women, trafficking reproductive rights, employment, etc.). The experiences gained have contributed to the development of knowledge and skills, and created a better understanding of the various dimensions of equality, non-discrimination, State obligation, human rights principles (e.g., universality and indivisibility), and a rights-based approach to development. For more information, see http://www.iwraw-ap.org/.

Legal Resources Center (LRC), Constitutional Litigation Unit, Johannesburg, South Africa

LRC is an independent, client-based, non-profit public interest law center which uses law as an instrument of justice. It works for the development of a fully democratic society based on the principle of substantive equality, by providing legal services for the vulnerable and marginalized, including the poor, homeless, and landless people and communities of South Africa who suffer discrimination by reason of race, class, gender, disability or by reason of social, economic, and historical circumstances. The LRC recognizes that with South Africa’s Constitution still in its infancy, the human rights precedents being set now will make an important contribution to the future of human rights in South Africa and will have beneficial effects in the longer term throughout the Southern African region. For more information, see http://www.lrc.org.za

ILHR Fellow Michal Pomeranz (LLM 2011) in front of the South African Constitutional Court during her 2011 internship at the Legal Resources Centre’s Constitutional Litigation Unit in Johannesburg.

KNCHR is an independent national institution established by an Act of Parliament in 2002 to lead in protecting and promoting human rights in Kenya. To achieve this, KNCHR’s key program areas are investigating complaints; providing redress; campaigns and advocacy; research, policy and legislation; economic, social and cultural rights; education; and capacity building and institutional strengthening. Comprised of seven commissioners, KNCHR has the some judicial powers to meet its obligations, e.g., to issue summonses to compel attendance and orders to produce documentation, as well as order the release from custody of persons unlawfully detained. For more information, see http://www.knchr.org/.

Legal Resources Centre (LRC), Constitutional Litigation Unit (CLU), Johannesburg, South Africa (1 student)

LRC is an independent, client-based, non-profit public interest law center which uses law as an instrument of justice. It works for the development of a fully democratic society based on the principle of substantive equality, by providing legal services for the vulnerable and marginalized, including the poor, homeless, and landless people and communities of South Africa who suffer discrimination by reason of race, class, gender, disability or by reason of social, economic, and historical circumstances. LRC recognizes that with South Africa’s Constitution still in its infancy, the human rights precedents being set now will make an important contribution to the future of human rights in South Africa and will have beneficial effects in the longer term throughout the Southern African region. The CLU seeks to contribute towards an expanded body of human rights and constitutional jurisprudence and focuses particularly on constitutional issues which have an impact on poverty and inequality. For more information, see http://www.lrc.org.za..

The Migrant Justice Programme (MJP) is an initiative of the Human Rights and Development Foundation (HRDF) begun in 2007, to encourage systematic access to rights and rights violation remedies for Burmese migrant communities in Thailand. MJP also works to empower migrant communities to challenge systematic discrimination against them at a national policy level. MJP undertakes and supports activities in Chiang Mai, Tak and Samut Sakorn provinces, including 1) facilitating strategic test case litigation in migrant community-identified “priority problem areas” to stimulate a sustainable change to government policies that currently discriminatorily and unfairly deny labor and social rights to migrants; 2) empowering migrant communities to generate data on existing systemic rights violations to inform advocacy campaigns on a domestic, regional and international level as well as to promote government/NGO networking and cooperation; 3) conducting paralegal education and trainer of trainer (TOT) programs with selected migrant community volunteers who then conduct supervised trainings in their own communities; and 4) providing migrant communities with paralegal assistance in response to rights violations. While not a pre-requisite, knowledge of the Burmese or Thai language will enhance the internship experience. For more information, see http://hrdfoundation.org/?p=81&lang=en.

People's Watch-Tamil Nadu is a non-governmental human rights organization which has been actively engaged in the protection and promotion of human rights in the state of Tamil Nadu and other parts of the country since 1995. Its mission is to empower marginalized sections of society to realize their rights through collective action. Its objectives are to hold the state accountable for violations of human rights and to promote a human rights culture in all elements of society. People’s Watch has several programmatic divisions, including human rights monitoring, Dalit human rights, women’s rights, rehabilitation of torture victims, and human rights education. For more information, see http://www.pwtn.org/.

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Amman, Jordan (1 student) and Geneva, Switzerland

UNHCR was established in 1950 by the UN General Assembly. It is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. Today, UNHCR is one of the world's principal humanitarian agencies, its staff of nearly 7,200 personnel helping approximately 36.4 million people in 120 countries. Placements are anticipated at two UNHCR offices: the Geneva headquarters (in the Protection Operation and Legal Advice Section of the Division of International Protection Services) and the Amman Office (where the focus is on refugees and asylum-seekers from Iraq). While not a pre-requisite, knowledge of Arabic will enhance the internship experience in the Amman office. For more information, see http://www.unhcr.org.

The International Law Commission is the legal codification arm of the United Nations. It meets every summer in Geneva to consider proposals for treaties, declarations of principles and other codifications or elaborations in norms previously only the subject of customary international law. Examples of the issues debated by the Commission in the past include the establishment of a permanent international criminal court and the formulation of the law on state responsibility. Current topics include reservations to treaties, responsibility of international organizations, shared natural resources, effects of armed conflicts on treaties, obligation to extradite or prosecute (aut dedere aut judicare), expulsion of aliens, immunity of State officials from foreign criminal jurisdiction and protection of persons in the event of disasters.

Members of the Commission are prominent experts in public international law and are elected in their individual capacities. Each student is assigned to work with a particular Commission member, not as a UN intern. This internship is cerebral and scholarly, not action packed - students undertake work assigned by Commission members, attend ILC meetings, conduct research, and write major papers with a view toward eventual publication. The Commission session normally begins in late April, so students travel to Geneva as soon as possible after exams in mid May, and return in mid August. In 2011 the Commission plans to meet from April 26 to June 3 and from July 4 to August 12.For the membership and work of the Commission, see its most recent annual report at http://www.un.org/law/ilc.

ILHR Fellows with 2011 internships at the International Law Commission in Geneva, from left: Maria Alejandra Etchegorry (LLM 2011); Joseph Jerome (Class of 2013); Bradley Nicholson (Class of 2013); Carson Thomas (Class of 2013); Emma Dunlop (LLM 2011); and Trang (Mae) Nguyen (Class of 2013). Not pictured: Florencia Lebensohn (LLM 2011).

Created in 2006 by the UN Security Council and through a subsequent agreement between the UN and the government of Lebanon, the STL became a functioning tribunal on March 1, 2009. Its primary mandate is to prosecute persons responsible for the attack of February 14, 2005 resulting in the death of former Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri. The STL Statute calls for the application of the Lebanese Criminal Code in its work, but standards of justice, including principles of due process, are to be based on international standards of criminal justice as applied in other international tribunals. The STL works in English, Arabic and French. The Chambers of the STL are composed of one international Pre-Trial Judge, a Trial Chamber (three judges: one Lebanese and two international), an Appeals Chamber (five judges: two Lebanese and three international), and two alternate judges (one Lebanese and one international). Note: This placement is for 12 weeks. For more information, see http://www.stl-tsl.org/action/home.

Patricia Armstrong
Fellowship Coordinator
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
New York University School of Law
139 MacDougal, Fifth Floor
Fax: (+1-212) 995-4646
Email: tish.armstrong@ nyu.edu

Student Opportunities

International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship Program

About

Eligibility and Application

Components

List of Fellowship Placements 2011-12

About

Eligibility and Application

Components

List of Fellowship Placements 2011-12