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

Pamila Pengra (JD ’09), left, visits the Ibn Tulun Mosque with two other interns during her fellowship with the Housing and Land Rights Network in Cairo.

About

Eligibility

Components

List of Fellowship Placements 2007-08

International Law and Human Rights Student Fellows and Placements

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 first-year JD, second-year JD, LLM and JSD students at NYU School of Law selected for Fellowship.

Eligibility

Eligible applicants for the Fellowship are persons who are at the time of application first-year JD, second-year JD, LLM and JSD students at NYU School of Law. 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 2007-08 Fellowship application.

Components

Fellowships can focus on the areas of Transitional Justice, Human Rights 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 placements and designed to prepare them for their internships.

Research Paper: Student Fellows undertake a supervised research project on a transitional justice, international law or human rights issue to be agreed upon in advance with academic supervisors at NYU. In the past, the Center has published some of these papers as part of its Working Papers series. Selected fellows may be invited to present their paper at the Emerging Human Rights Scholarship Conference, held annually.

Fieldwork: Student Fellows conduct fieldwork at placement sites, generally for 10 to 12 weeks during the summer. The nature of the Fellowship varies according to placement site, but may include direct client interaction, work on domestic campaigns, attending relevant meetings, drafting policy papers, and general institutional support as assigned by the host institution.

During the 2006-07 academic year, there were 23 Student Fellows, with fieldwork placements at 16 prominent institutions, both inter-governmental and non-governmental.

List of Fellowship Placements 2007-08

Adalah, Legal Center for Arab Minority Rights in Israel, Shafa’amr, Israel

Adalah is an independent human rights organization, as well as a non-profit, non-governmental, and non-partisan legal center. Established in November 1996, it serves Arab citizens of Israel, numbering over one million people or close to 20% of the population. Adalah ("Justice" in Arabic) works to protect human rights in general, and the rights of the Arab minority in particular. Its main goals are to achieve equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority in Israel in different fields including land rights; civil and political rights; cultural, social, and economic rights; religious rights; women's rights; and prisoners' rights. Among its activities are litigation in Israeli courts; advocacy for legislation that will insure equal individual and collective rights for the Arab minority; and legal consultation to individuals, NGOs and Arab institutions. Its work draws on Israeli law, comparative constitutional law and international human rights law. For more information, see www.adalah.org/eng/index.php.

COHRE is an international NGO working on housing and eviction issues. Its overall objective is to promote and protect the housing rights of everyone, everywhere. To achieve this, COHRE has developed a varied work program, guided by international human rights law. Its work involves housing rights training and education; research and publications; monitoring, documenting and preventing forced evictions; undertaking fact-finding missions; participation and advocacy within the United Nations and regional human rights bodies; and providing legal advocacy and advice to communities and organizations involved in housing rights campaigns. For more information, see www.cohre.org/.

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. ERRC’s approach involves, in particular, strategic litigation, international advocacy, research and policy development, and human rights training of Romani activists. 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. The ERRC works to combat prejudice and discrimination against Roma, and to promote genuine equality of treatment and equality of respect. For more information, see www.errc.org/.

Instituto de Democracia y Derechos Humanos de la Pontifica Universidad Católica del Perú (IDEH-PUCP, Institute on Democracy and Human Rights of the Catholic University of Peru), Lima, Peru

The aim of IDEH-PUCP is to contribute to the strengthening of democracy and the respect for human rights in Peru through scholarship, basic and applied research, providing spaces for dialogue and interaction between civil society and the government, and the promotion of the values that uphold human rights and the rule of law. Part of its work grew out of the work of the Peru Truth and Reconciliation Commission that investigated human rights abuses between 1980 and 2000 and issued a final report in August 2003. The report found that insurgent violence and counterinsurgency tactics caused an estimated 69,000 deaths and disappearances, mostly in indigenous communities. IDEH-PUCP seeks to follow-up on Commission recommendations including a comprehensive reparations plan and criminal prosecutions, the latter having faced obstacles such as procedural impediments. For more information, see www.pucp.edu.pe/idehpucp

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.

The ICTJ assists countries pursuing accountability for past mass atrocity or human rights abuse. The Center works in societies emerging from repressive rule or armed conflict, as well as in established democracies where historical injustices or systemic abuse remain unresolved. The 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. The Center 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. For more information, see http://www.ictj.org.

The ICTR was established by the U.N. in 1994. It was established for the prosecution of persons responsible for Rwandan genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994. Interning at the ICTR offers a unique opportunity for students to take part in criminal prosecutions, involving the application of international humanitarian and criminal law, in cases relating to the Rwandan genocide. The Rwandan genocide, in which at least 800,000 people were killed in 100 days. Since 1994, the ICTR has rendered 22 judgments, with another 25 cases on trial as of September 2005. Fellows will take part in the ICTR’s established program and will be placed in either judge’s chambers or in the Prosecutor’s Office. For more information, see http://www.ictr.org

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 – 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 (Constitutional Litigation Unit), Johannesburg, South Africa (LRC)

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’s Constitutional Litigation Unit seeks to contribute to the enhancement of constitutional democracy and the development of a culture of human rights and the rule of law in South Africa, and to a lesser extent, in the Southern African region. 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. The LRC's constitutional rights work 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 Liberia TRC was created in 2005 to, inter alia, investigate gross human rights violations and violations of international humanitarian law as well as abuses that occurred primarily during the period January 1979 to October 14, 2003; determine whether these were isolated incidents or part of a systematic pattern; and determine those responsible for the commission of the violations and abuses. In addition, the TRC is to provide a forum that will address issues of impunity and an opportunity for both victims and perpetrators of human rights violations to share their experiences in order to facilitate reconciliation. For more information, see http://www.trcofliberia.org/

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 valuable human rights culture that pervades 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

Timap for Justice is a pioneering effort to provide basic justice services in Sierra Leone. Because of a shortage of lawyers in the country, Timap’s frontline is made up of community-based paralegals rather than lawyers. It presently employs 25 paralegals who work in 13 paralegal offices in the Northern and Southern provinces as well as in the capital Freetown. Timap has developed a creative, flexible model to advance justice, one which combines education, mediation, negotiation, organizing, and advocacy. Interns will evaluate the paralegals' application of necessary skills, conduct training sessions on common law concepts such as contracts, torts and criminal law, and contribute a considerable portion of their time to devising and executing strategies to address community-level issues. Interns are usually stationed in rural Sierra Leone and rarely deal with litigation, statutes, courts, or legal research and writing. While interns work closely with paralegals, direct supervision of the intern’s work is limited; thus, individual initiative and self-direction are important assets. For more information, see www.timapforjustice.org

Jeannie Rose Field (JD ’09) holding dolls made by refugees during her fellowship with the Bangkok office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Since mid-2004, an OHCHR senior human rights adviser has been in place in Sri Lanka to provide support in building the human rights capacity of government institutions, civil society and the United Nations itself, particularly in the context of peace process. Together with other UN agencies, the Adviser explores ways of addressing human rights issues within the context of the peace process. Among the Adviser's activities are human rights training; initiating human rights awareness and empowerment programs; building the capacity of the national human rights commission and supporting civil society initiatives; providing technical assistance on the implementation of treaty body comments; and advising UN and local agencies on issues of child recruitment and the protection of internally displaced persons. Note: This placement is for 12 weeks. For more information, see http://www.ohchr.org/english/countries/lk/

U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Geneva, Switzerland and Bangkok, Thailand

UNHCR was established in 1950 by the U.N. 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 more than 6,500 personnel helping 19.2 million people in 116 countries. Placements are anticipated at three UNHCR offices: the Geneva headquarters and one field office in Bangkok, Thailand. Note: UNHCR requires that summer placements be for at least 12 weeks. For more information, see http://www.unhcr.org.

Abra Bron (JD ’09), Gerhard Thallinger (LLM ’07), Alexander Feldman (JD ’09), Céline Folsché (LLM ’07) pose outside the UN headquarters in Geneva during their fellowships at the International Law Commission.

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 multilateral treaties, diplomatic protection, the legal responsibility of international organizations, the fragmentation of international law, unilateral acts of States, shared natural resources and state liability for certain transboundary harms.

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. It is expected that in 2007 the Commission will meet from May 7 to June 8 and from July 9 to August 10. For the membership and work of the Commission, see its most recent annual report at http://www.un.org/law/ilc/index.htm

Patricia Armstrong
Fellowship Coordinator
Center for Human Rights and Global Justice
New York University School of Law
110 West Third Street, Room 204
New York NY 10012
Tel: (+1-212) 998-6208
Fax: (+1-212) 995-4600
Email: armstron@juris.law.nyu.edu

Student Opportunities

International Law and Human Rights Student Fellowship Program

About

Eligibility

Components

List of Fellowship Placements 2007-08

International Law and Human Rights Student Fellows and Placements

About

Eligibility

Components

List of Fellowship Placements 2007-08