2004 Summer Interns
The Program in International Human Rights Law placed ten interns in various human rights organizations worldwide. After two days of intense pre-departure and briefing sessions held at the Law School, and a reception in their honor, the interns departed on their summer adventures. The interns worked for ten weeks at governmental, inter-governmental, and non-governmental human rights and legal organizations. Funded by Law School scholarships and working towards academic credit, the interns' areas of study include: death penalty litigation, immigration and asylum law, civil and political rights, rights of women, rights of indigenous peoples, legal representation for the poor, race discrimination, and human rights in specific regions, such as China and Europe.
 From left: Joseph Park, Ying Xiao, Ksenija Kokanovic, Michael Cross, Tom Benner, Sean Monkhouse, Evelina Bozek, Malak Mojaddidi, Seema Shah, and Nicole Steward |
- Seema Shah - Legal Resources Centre (LRC), (Accra, Ghana)
- Nicole Steward - Legal Resources Centre (LRC), (Accra, Ghana)
- Malak Mojaddidi- Women’s Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE), (Accra, Ghana)
- Michael P. Cross - Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights (IJCHR), (Kingston, Jamaica)
- Sean A. Monkhouse - The Legal Aid Project of the Law Society of Uganda (Kampala, Uganda)
- Sean Monkhouse - Unrepresented Nations & Peoples Organisation (UNPO), (The Hague, The Netherlands)
- Ksenija Kokanovic - Capital Area Immigrants’ Rights Coalition (CAIR Coalition), (Washington, D.C, USA.)
- Joseph Jin Hong Park- Hawaii Civil Rights Commission (Hawaii, USA)
- Joseph Jin Hong Park - Asia Pacific Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS OSAKA ), (Osaka, Japan)
- Evelina Bozek - National Human Rights Commission of Korea (Seoul, Republic of Korea)
- Thomas H. Benner - Northern Ireland Council for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM ), (Belfast, Northern Ireland)
- Ying Xiao - Congressional Executive Commission on China (CECC) International Center for Civil Society Law (ISCIL), (Washington, D.C., USA)
Ms. Seema Shah worked with Legal Resource Centre (LRC), an NGO, which provides legal aid to the poor and the underprivileged, and also empowers community leaders. She was involved in two major projects. First, she researched for workshops aimed at educating community leaders about good governance, health and childcare, education, and microfinance. Second, Ms Shah was involved in case reporting system to help organize information on pending and closed legal aid cases for the LRC. She gathered materials from Ministry of Finance, the UNDP, and the World Bank in Ghana to complete her projects.
Ms. Nicole S. Steward joined Legal Resource Centre (LRC) to work with the organization on three projects; 1) attending conferences between the members of LRC staff and clients for possible alternative dispute resolution, 2) visiting several NGOs and government agencies to collect information and gather documents about improving education and healthcare system, and prepare a summary of each organization's agenda, and 3) designing and implementing case reporting system for the host organization.
Ms. Malak Mojaddidi worked with the Women's Initiative for Self Empowerment (WISE), an NGO dedicated to empowering women. The organization mainly deals with issues relating to women, and work for the uplift of women. While working with WISE, Ms Mojaddidi wrote a paper underlining the need for enactment of legislation to curb domestic violence in the country because she felt that existing laws are not sufficient to deal with offences relating to domestic violence.
Mr. Michael P. Cross worked with the Independent Jamaica Council for Human Rights Limited (IJCHR), a leading human rights organization, which gives legal assistance to the poor and fights cases in court for inmates, who have been awarded death penalty. Mr. Cross also closely worked with inmates on death row. His primary responsibility was to visit twice a week the St Catherine Adult Correctional Facility that housed the inmates. Besides, he used to communicate with counsel and families of the inmates, and helped arrange witnesses for appeals. Mr. Cross was part of the team of the organization, which prepared documents for filing an appeal challenging the constitutional validity of legislation replacing Judicial Committee of the Privy Council with Caribbean Court of Justice in Trinidad and Tobago. The government led by the People's National Party (PNP) wanted to enact the law because the execution of inmates became difficult due to the decisions of Privy Council.
Mr. Sean A. Monkhouse did his first internship at the Legal Aid Project of Uganda Law Society, which is engaged in legal research and imparting legal aid to people in need .His major assignments included legal work in areas of pretrial detentions and provision of legal aid to refugees. Mr. Monkhouse produced a research paper analyzing the problem for large-scale detention of suspects at the pre-trial stage, and came out with suggestions.
Mr. Monkhouse also worked with the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) The organization empowers aboriginals and minority people across the world to fight for their rights. He was given the task of writing grant proposals for the European Commission's Initiative for Democracy and Human Rights. Later, Mr. Monkhouse gathered information on Ogoni people's struggle in Nigeria and also examined cases between Ogoni people and Shell Oil, which are currently being dealt by the Federal Court in the US. He also explored the possibility of filing amicus curiae briefs in the ICC on behalf of the indigenous people in conflict zones in Democratic Republic of Congo and Uganda.
Ms Ksenija Kokanovic interned with the Capital Area Immigrants' Rights Coalition (CAIR Coalition), a non-profit organization, which deals with the rights of immigrants and asylum seekers in the U.S. She completed two major projects assigned to her by the organization. First, Ms Ksenija worked on a project that focuses on the rights of alleged illegal immigrants detained by the authorities. Second, she worked on the project dealing with the problems faced by asylum seekers in the U.S.
Mr. Joseph Jin Hong Park worked with the Hawaii Civil Rights Commission (HCRC) as an intern. The organization protects and defends the rights of the people. Mr. Park worked as a law clerk in the enforcement division of the HCRC. His main responsibility involved conducting research for cases, and preparing memoranda outlining legal guidelines.
Mr. Park also interned at the Asia-Pacific
Human Rights Information Center (HURIGHTS), an organization involved
in defending human rights of minority people, refugees and migrant workers
in the country.
The organization gave Mr. Park three research projects to complete. First,
he worked in the program section that is dedicated to impart human rights
education. Second, he worked for the Korean minority through research on their
plight. Third, Mr. Park figured out the problems of refugees and migrant workers
and suggested solutions.
Ms Evelina Bozek was attached to
the International
Affairs Division of the National Human Rights Commission of Korea,
which is a government agency committed to protecting and defending human rights
of citizens. The Commission is also engaged in extensive research work in
the area of human rights. Ms Bozek was associated with the preparation of
an UN-sponsored conference- the International Conference of National Human
Rights Institutions.
She researched and drafted reports on human rights on five topics in connection
with the conference. Then, Ms Bozek prepared a list of working group reference
documents which were made available to Commission by state and non-state actors.
She also translated documents from Spanish to English and vice-versa for the
Commission.
Mr. Thomas H. Benner worked with the Northern Ireland Commission for Ethnic Minorities (NICEM), an NGO that deals with immigrants, asylum seekers, and fights against race discrimination in Europe. Mr. Bernner concentrated his work on education of Irish Traveller Children. He produced a paper titled, Education of Irish Traveller Children: A Consultation Response to the Department of Education of Northern Ireland. In the course of writing the paper, he found that several human rights principles and instruments were relevant to his work. Eventually, Mr. Benner felt that a vast gap exists between traveller and settled children.
Mr Ying Xiao interned at the International Center for Civil Society Law (ICCSL), an NGO. Mr. Xiao also worked with a governmental organization as well as Congressional-Executive Commission on China (CECC). At ICCSL, Mr. Xiao translated Chinese tax documents into English and analyzed China's tax laws and regulations on social welfare. At CECC that deals with Chinese affairs, Mr. Xiao conducted extensive research on Public Institution System and freedom of association in China .He prepared a paper on the topic after examining Chinese laws relating to NGOs. During his stint with both organizations, he wrote a series of articles in US-based Chinese newspapers on U.S. legal system .The objective was to educate local Chinese community in the U.S about basics of US laws.