Human Rights Internship Program 2002 - Give young people a chance to learn about global human rights !
This year’s Human Rights Internship program has been taking place in conjunction with the 58th Session of the UN Commission on Human Rights (CHR) in Geneva which began in March 18 with a six week session schedule.
This year at the 58th Session of the UN CHR, all together, we had nine interns: six full-time and three part-time. From Africa, two young professionals, Ms Tsitsi Masvaure from Zimbabwe and Ms Mboje Mjomba from Kenya. Both of them are members of the newly formed ICMICA groups in respective country. From Asia, Mr John Vincent Arokiam, human rights lawyer from Tamilnadu, India. His participation was to receive training in advocacy on Dalits issues as a follow-up to the Durban World Conference Against Racism (WCAR) last year. Mr Khalil Tahir, a human rights lawyer and a legal advisor to the National Commission of Justice and Peace Commission in Pakistan. This is a follow-up to the internship during the Sub-Commission on Human Rights last summer. Mr Kiho Uhm, a member of IMCS Asia/Pacific team based in Manila, the Philippines. Mr Chulhyo Kim, from South Korea, who just completed his Master’s Degree on Human Rights at Essex university in UK. He came to Geneva to gain practical experiences about Human Rights Mechanisms of the UN system and to work as a voluntary assistant to the program. He will continue to stay in the office in Geneva till the end of the year.
We also had a few short-term interns. Ms Nuria Jounou and Ms Ana Gonzlez, two university students studying law recommended by the Roda Ventura Group in Barcelona joined the program for a week, and Fr Al Andang Binawan, a young Jesuit priest and former director of the Jakarta Social Institute from Indonesia who is now studying in Louven, Belgium.
Pax Romana also facilitated the participation of some human rights defenders. Particularly this year, Pax Romana NGO accreditation was given to two human rights defenders Mr Juan Carlos GUERRERO and Mr Xavier ROBERT from Colombia and Mr Alain Bivel from France at the request of CCFD (Catholic Committee against Famine and for Development), a partner agency in Paris.
Like previous years, Anselmo Lee, present Secretary General and Mr Joseph Rajkumar, former Secretary General of ICMICA (1981-1989) have jointly conducted the program. HR Internship program is composed of one-week orientation program before the opening of the CHR and six week regular session during the CHR, and two days’ evaluation and examination. For more details, you can visit our website www.paxromana.org.
The second HR Internship will be organized in Geneva from July 25 to August 18, 2002 in connection with the Sub-CHR 2002. The application form is available at our website www.paxromana.org.
Apart from these regular internship programs, we are also looking for some interns and volunteers who can stay in Geneva and work on human rights and the UN at our office for a longer-term, minimum 3 months. Those who have studied human rights and international relations are most welcome. Give young people a chance to learn about human rights!
This year’s HR Internship was possible with financial support from CCFD in Paris, Cordaid in the Netherlands, Swiss Catholic Lenten Fund in Switzerland, Misereor and Missio from Germany. Once again thank you for their valuable support.