Greetings, Kia Ora. I've completed my first week of work at the Wellington Community Law Centre in Wellington, NZ. The experience is already more than I could have ever hoped for this summer (winter here).
The office environment at the centre is one where you can truly tell that the lawyers and volunteers working here truly are committed to the service that they are providing. It is less of a situation of going to work for a set number of hours to get a pay check at the end of the week and more of a place where people are dedicated to providing legal services to those that cannot afford them financially on their own and those that also cannot afford to sit idly by as their rights are eroded.
In the first week of our work already, I have met with a number of clients. Most of my work will focus on Refugee and Immigration Legal Advice Sessions (RILAS). This week, that entailed everything from helping translate for some Spanish-speaking clients about a half hour train ride out of Wellington in Porirua, NZ to writing a memo on what type of documentation is standard for cultural marriages in Afghanistan, despite what may appear to be officially recognized as proper documentation by law. We focused our attention on cases where the client has refugee status but is seeking to obtain refugee status for the family that is left in the country of origin. I have found already that it can be a long and painful process of waiting and spotty success. Our work is important because we take a multiple prong approach to each case, working to bring the family over to NZ legally either as refugee or through normal immigration means, though this tends to be a much more difficult track to take.
Today I am off of work for public holiday for the Queen's birthday, so I've travelled north by bus to Rotorua for the weekend. I stand anxious to get into my next week of work at the centre and am optimistic about the changes that we can make in our clients' lives, though we all need to be patient and work in the framework available through the guidelines of Immigration New Zealand.
Monday, June 7, 2010
Sunday, June 6, 2010
Sierra Leone, National Moot Competition on Humanitarian Law
Greetings from Sierra Leone! I am currently working with the Centre for Safe Motherhood, Youth, and Child Outreach (CESMYCO), a local NGO which addresses the rights of women and children, with a special focus on harmful traditional practices, such as female genital mutilation (FGM). At first the work was slow, due to my supervisor's travel to operational areas, power shortages, and sorting out confusion over what exactly I would be doing. Things have since fallen into place and the remainder of my time should be busy, but productive. I leave tomorrow morning for Kambia District, where I'll be conducting interviews on customary law's treatment of women and children.
My philosophy while traveling has always been to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise, and never stick too strictly to a set plan. This is how I came to find myself sitting on the judge's bench of the Special Court for Sierra Leone on Friday afternoon, presiding over a "trial". Through a colleague, I had the opportunity to get involved with the National Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law. The competition, in its sixth year, offers students from local universities the opportunity to prosecute or defend alleged violations of IHL. Cosponsored by the Sierra Leone Red Cross and the Special Court, the winning team will advance to the Pan Africa finals in Tanzania.
Six teams competed-- only one containing law students-- working from fact patterns drawn loosely from scenarios in Afghanistan and Nigeria. On the first day, it became clear that the students had received little guidance on how to prepare and structure their arguments, although they had a decent grasp of the rules of IHL. We heard their cases, asked questions of both teams, and finally offered constructive feedback to improve their presentations. On the second day, we saw considerable improvement, both in the organization of their arguments and their confidence in answering our increasingly difficult questions. For these preliminary rounds, I served on a panel of four judges consisting of myself, a Canadian intern with the Special Court, a lawyer from Zain Mobile, and an army captain.
On Friday afternoon, I arrived at the Special Court, expecting to merely observe the final round. Instead the judges from the preliminary round were taken to the chambers of Justice Kamanda, president of the Special Court, where we spent an hour going through the fact pattern and discussing our opinions on the violations and potential arguments. We then proceeded to one of the courtrooms, where we presided over the competition.
Unfortunately, the quality of the final round was a disappointment. Much of the progress of the day before had been lost, and the students struggled to present their cases and to answer our questions. However, the opportunity to sit within the Court-- even for a simulation-- was incredible. At the reception following, I had the opportunity to speak with many of the students, with the representatives of the Red Cross, and with Justice Kamanda. While all of the teams have a long way to go in arguing a case, I was impressed with the students' passion for the principles of humanitarian law. For the remainder of my time in Sierra Leone, I have volunteered to help with occasional trainings to prepare the winning team to compete in Tanzania in November. While it isn't the project I came to do, I am looking forward to seeing the team progress over the next two months and will be wishing them the best when they reach Arusha.
My philosophy while traveling has always been to take advantage of any opportunities that may arise, and never stick too strictly to a set plan. This is how I came to find myself sitting on the judge's bench of the Special Court for Sierra Leone on Friday afternoon, presiding over a "trial". Through a colleague, I had the opportunity to get involved with the National Moot Court Competition on International Humanitarian Law. The competition, in its sixth year, offers students from local universities the opportunity to prosecute or defend alleged violations of IHL. Cosponsored by the Sierra Leone Red Cross and the Special Court, the winning team will advance to the Pan Africa finals in Tanzania.
Six teams competed-- only one containing law students-- working from fact patterns drawn loosely from scenarios in Afghanistan and Nigeria. On the first day, it became clear that the students had received little guidance on how to prepare and structure their arguments, although they had a decent grasp of the rules of IHL. We heard their cases, asked questions of both teams, and finally offered constructive feedback to improve their presentations. On the second day, we saw considerable improvement, both in the organization of their arguments and their confidence in answering our increasingly difficult questions. For these preliminary rounds, I served on a panel of four judges consisting of myself, a Canadian intern with the Special Court, a lawyer from Zain Mobile, and an army captain.
On Friday afternoon, I arrived at the Special Court, expecting to merely observe the final round. Instead the judges from the preliminary round were taken to the chambers of Justice Kamanda, president of the Special Court, where we spent an hour going through the fact pattern and discussing our opinions on the violations and potential arguments. We then proceeded to one of the courtrooms, where we presided over the competition.
Unfortunately, the quality of the final round was a disappointment. Much of the progress of the day before had been lost, and the students struggled to present their cases and to answer our questions. However, the opportunity to sit within the Court-- even for a simulation-- was incredible. At the reception following, I had the opportunity to speak with many of the students, with the representatives of the Red Cross, and with Justice Kamanda. While all of the teams have a long way to go in arguing a case, I was impressed with the students' passion for the principles of humanitarian law. For the remainder of my time in Sierra Leone, I have volunteered to help with occasional trainings to prepare the winning team to compete in Tanzania in November. While it isn't the project I came to do, I am looking forward to seeing the team progress over the next two months and will be wishing them the best when they reach Arusha.
Friday, June 4, 2010
Migrant Assistance Program (MAP), Chiang Mai, Thailand
Hey all--I'm finally settled into my apartment in Chiang Mai, Thailand, and so far I love the city. It's small enough to be manageable, so I'm getting around ok, and the food is great (yesterday I learned the essentials of how to order soup in Thai [step 1: specify the type of noodle you want. Step 2: specify your broth. Step 3: meat]). To get to work, I've been hailing song tao, open truck-taxis with two rows of seats that pick up passengers along a route made up as the driver goes along.
Work so far has been overwhelming, in a good way. I'm working for the Migrant Assistance Program Foundation for Ethnic Health and Labour (MAP), which deals with all things related to Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. The main office is in Chiang Mai, and there are smaller outposts in Mae Sot (a Burmese border town) and Phang Nga, which is on the southern coast and has lots of migrants working in the fishing industry. The MAP staff is mostly Thai or Burmese, with the exception of the Director, a British woman who has lived in Thailand for 30 years, and my supervisor, who's American. Reena, my supervisor, sat with the other intern (a Burmese woman who is studying in Hong Kong) and me this week to describe MAP's work. It was a long meeting, because the organization really seems to do everything: they have Thai lawyers on staff, who take all kinds of cases through the Thai judicial system on behalf of migrant workers; there is a group called POSH (Promoting Occupational Safety and Health) that conducts safety trainings for workers; the Community Health and Empowerment segment deals with migrant workers' access to health care, including HIV testing and access to ARVs; MAP Multimedia (MMM) runs a radio station that deals with issues pertinent to migrant workers in Chiang Mai (soon we'll be broadcasting in Mae Sot too), makes documentaries, and produces other materials that support the rest of MAP's projects; and MAP also runs an emergency safe house for migrant workers in crisis. I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but the general idea is that they provide social services, do advocacy on behalf of Burmese workers, and take on related legal cases. It's an amazing mix, and I have no idea how they do it with such a small staff.
I'll be helping the Legal Support write a "shadow report" for CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Each CEDAW signatory is supposed to submit reports on their progress in terms of conforming to the convention. NGOs write "shadow" or alternative reports supplementing the country submissions, with particular emphasis on the situation on the ground as related to the NGO's particular expertise. MAP's shadow report will deal with CEDAW General Recommendation 26, which focuses on the rights of women migrant workers. To do this, I'll be traveling with MAP staff to Songklaburi, Thailand, where they will conduct a training that will alert migrant women to their rights as workers. At the same time the training will allow us to gather information on abuses that migrant women suffer. Along with information from other trainings, and research on Thai law, we'll compile a snapshot of the situation for Burmese migrant women along the border and will make recommendations to the Thai government and the CEDAW committee on how Thailand can better conform to their international legal obligations under the convention.
The picture uploader isn't working but I'll try to add some soon.
Work so far has been overwhelming, in a good way. I'm working for the Migrant Assistance Program Foundation for Ethnic Health and Labour (MAP), which deals with all things related to Burmese migrant workers in Thailand. The main office is in Chiang Mai, and there are smaller outposts in Mae Sot (a Burmese border town) and Phang Nga, which is on the southern coast and has lots of migrants working in the fishing industry. The MAP staff is mostly Thai or Burmese, with the exception of the Director, a British woman who has lived in Thailand for 30 years, and my supervisor, who's American. Reena, my supervisor, sat with the other intern (a Burmese woman who is studying in Hong Kong) and me this week to describe MAP's work. It was a long meeting, because the organization really seems to do everything: they have Thai lawyers on staff, who take all kinds of cases through the Thai judicial system on behalf of migrant workers; there is a group called POSH (Promoting Occupational Safety and Health) that conducts safety trainings for workers; the Community Health and Empowerment segment deals with migrant workers' access to health care, including HIV testing and access to ARVs; MAP Multimedia (MMM) runs a radio station that deals with issues pertinent to migrant workers in Chiang Mai (soon we'll be broadcasting in Mae Sot too), makes documentaries, and produces other materials that support the rest of MAP's projects; and MAP also runs an emergency safe house for migrant workers in crisis. I'm sure I'm leaving stuff out, but the general idea is that they provide social services, do advocacy on behalf of Burmese workers, and take on related legal cases. It's an amazing mix, and I have no idea how they do it with such a small staff.
I'll be helping the Legal Support write a "shadow report" for CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women). Each CEDAW signatory is supposed to submit reports on their progress in terms of conforming to the convention. NGOs write "shadow" or alternative reports supplementing the country submissions, with particular emphasis on the situation on the ground as related to the NGO's particular expertise. MAP's shadow report will deal with CEDAW General Recommendation 26, which focuses on the rights of women migrant workers. To do this, I'll be traveling with MAP staff to Songklaburi, Thailand, where they will conduct a training that will alert migrant women to their rights as workers. At the same time the training will allow us to gather information on abuses that migrant women suffer. Along with information from other trainings, and research on Thai law, we'll compile a snapshot of the situation for Burmese migrant women along the border and will make recommendations to the Thai government and the CEDAW committee on how Thailand can better conform to their international legal obligations under the convention.
The picture uploader isn't working but I'll try to add some soon.
Tuesday, June 1, 2010
Frustration
Yesterday I started working for an organization call Timap for Justice in Sierra Leone. I had very high expectations in terms of what my work assignments would be. Unfortunately, I was disappointed and as a result don't have much to blog about my much anticipated first day of work. I spent my first day waiting to meet with the director of the organization. A group of us, all American Law School Students waited approximately 6 hours without being given a substantive assignment. I left the first day of work extremely frustrated. However, I have decided that I am going to go back to my assignment with a positive attitude and hope that things improve.
Sunday, August 16, 2009
Asochivida.org
Now that we have safely returned back to the states, Scott, Jenny and I have been able to complete the website we created for the group of terminally ill ex-sugar cane workers whom we were aiding during the final portion of our time in Nicaragua. I encourage everyone to check out the website we spent countless hours creating at ASOCHIVIDA.org! On our website you will be able to read about the terrible epidemic that is ruining their community, the impact that the deaths of thousands of workers has had, and the current negotiations underway between the workers and the factory with the assistance of the World Bank's alternative dispute resolution mechanism. You can also read personal narratives from the workers themselves about their experiences both working for the factory and discovering they are ill with Chronic Renal Failure. I apologize for the brevity of this blog post, but all I have to say has already been put into words on our website, again at ASOCHIVIDA.org.
Monday, August 3, 2009
Adios from the Swamp - Washington, DC
So my first post is coming during my last week at the Federal Judicial Center here in Washington, DC. The summer has flown by and aside from the relatively mild heat (by DC standards), my time at the FJC has been a great experience.
Having initially worked with the Leitner Center and FJC last October in Ghana, the opportunity to do so again was something I jumped at. The International Judicial Relations Office of the FJC works in Washington and abroad to help foreign judiciaries develop fair, efficient, and effective justice systems.
As such, I've spent the summer working on a variety of different projects related to upcoming FJC initiatives. To help US Federal Judges participating in training conferences in Afghanistan and Iraq, I've been researching and writing on Islamic Law. I've also worked on Opinion Writing and Ethics presentations that will be used in an upcoming FJC trip to Uganda and background information on Latin American judiciaries for an upcoming trip to Argentina.
All in all, the summer at the Federal Judicial Center has been interesting and educational. Working on such broad and diverse projects that directly impact the lives of so many around the world will surely be missed when I'm soon sitting in Professional Responsibility . :P
Friday, July 31, 2009
Day 63: Nyanza
Greetings from Nyanza, Rwanda.
Our time here at the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) is winding down and Jesse and I are putting the final touches on the benchbook we compiled on gender-based violence. We have spent the last nine weeks interviewing experts and professionals in the legal community in Rwanda and researching gender-based violence in general. Last Wednesday we presented a draft of our work to the Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of Rwanda, and our impression was that he was pleased with our findings and encouraged by the future prospect of using benchbooks in Rwanda. The Deputy Chief Justice said that he expects Rwandan judges to benefit from having a practical resource to use during trials, in particular for recent graduates entering the judiciary.
Our time here at the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) is winding down and Jesse and I are putting the final touches on the benchbook we compiled on gender-based violence. We have spent the last nine weeks interviewing experts and professionals in the legal community in Rwanda and researching gender-based violence in general. Last Wednesday we presented a draft of our work to the Deputy Chief Justice of the Republic of Rwanda, and our impression was that he was pleased with our findings and encouraged by the future prospect of using benchbooks in Rwanda. The Deputy Chief Justice said that he expects Rwandan judges to benefit from having a practical resource to use during trials, in particular for recent graduates entering the judiciary.
Institute of Legal Practice and Development in Nyanza, Rwanda
Graduating law students in Rwanda choose to become prosecutors, defense attorneys, or judges directly out of law school. This process will help Rwanda replenish the judiciary that was decimated during the genocide, but also places recent graduates with little or no experience in court to hear and decide cases. The ILPD aims to strengthen the justice sector in Rwanda and does so by providing practical legal training for judges, prosecutors and defense attorneys from all levels of experience. The goal of our project (initially chosen as a pilot to test whether Rwanda should introduce benchbooks), will hopefully further the Institute’s goal and further strengthen the effectiveness of the judiciary. In addition, if our project proves useful, the ILPD may produce additional benchbooks, which will allow the Institute to reach more students than the current 38 seats the ILPD handles per intake class.
Our time here at the ILPD has been great and we have made many new friends among the students. In conversation with the students we regularly talk about how law promotes development and it is exciting to think about Rwanda’s future as more trained judges and lawyers enter the workforce here. Throughout our interviews we regularly heard that the shortage of judges and prosecutors are contributing to the rise in overcrowded prisons, since pre-trial detentions can last for several years as prosecutors build cases against the accused. Instituting mechanisms such as benchbooks will hopefully ease some of this and other burdens on the legal system by helping judges hear and decide cases more efficiently.
Hillside in Kigali
Aside from research and writing the benchbook, Jesse and I have enjoyed trips to various places in Rwanda and Burundi over the weekends. A clear highlight of the trip was visiting the mountain gorillas in the north-western mountain region of Rwanda. We also took trips to the beautiful Lake Kivu, which forms the western border of Rwanda, and to Bujumbura on Lake Tanganyika in Burundi. A personal highlight for me was being stuck on the side of the road for a few hours after the bus I was taking from Lake Kivu back to Kigali broke down. Generally, this sort of thing can ruin a day and erase the relaxation felt after a morning of swimming and sunning by a lake. Fortunately for me, we happened to breakdown 100 meters or so from where a children’s church group was practicing and I ended up enjoying a private concert of singing and traditional dance as I waited for a bus to pick us up.
Overlooking Lake Kivu
All in all, I will be sad to leave, but happy knowing that good things are happening in the justice sector in Rwanda's. We met with many good people dedicated to improving the rule of law with the goal of promoting development, which will allow residents and tourists alike to enjoy the rich natural beauty here. If you have a chance to visit, I recommend that you do.
Silverback gorilla
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