Tag Archives: Europe

Chayes Fellow Dean Rosenberg ’15, on working with the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, France

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“My internship at the Council of Europe in Strasbourg, France, has been going great. The city is small but very beautiful (a kind of cross between French and German architecture, culture and food). There are a number of other interns here from different European countries so it’s also been a fantastic opportunity to meet with people from different backgrounds who share similar interests.

The work so far has been extremely interesting. I’ve been focusing primarily on two resolutions that the Parliamentary Assembly is planning on introducing and their accompanying explanatory reports: one on the independence of the European Court of Human Rights and the other on the accountability of international organizations for human rights violations. I’ve been doing research (including from academic journals, previous reports prepared by the Council, other international organizations and NGOs and from speaking to people with experience on the Court) and have been working on refining my writing to suit what is at its core a political document. My supervisor is extremely knowledgeable with more than 20 years of experience at the Council and has been great at providing for time for lunches with the interns to discuss our work, receive feedback as well as discuss our future plans etc.

The most interesting experience I’ve had here so far was probably the sitting of the Parliamentary Assembly last week. The week was quite chaotic, given the need for the assembly to sit, as well as for meetings of the various parliamentary committees (including the Committee of Legal Affairs and Human Rights which I’m working for) and of political groupings, as well as side meetings with NGOs etc. I got the chance to sit in on a number of committee meetings on a range of often controversial issues, including human rights in Morocco, the situation of Russian lawyers in the North Caucasus (a session that included testimony from a number of the lawyers themselves) and the treatment of whistleblowers.

Beyond work I’ve also had the chance to do some travelling in the area, including to Luxembourg, Paris, Geneva and this weekend to the South of France to see family.”

Dean is one of 23 HLS students working this summer in 18 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship. Please visit our Chayes Fellowship page to learn more!

Chayes Fellow Marina Basseas ’14, on working with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, The Netherlands

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“My experience thus far at the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia has been great! The Tribunal celebrated its 20th anniversary during the first week of my internship with a visit from King Willem-Alexander and a huge party – not a bad way to start off the internship. I’m also happy that I’ve been assigned to a high profile case, the Radovan Karadzic case. Most of my work involves cross-examination preparation for defense witnesses. I’ve also been helping out with a project that evaluates how courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina have been applying ICTY case law to sexual violence charges stemming from the war. It’s been truly fascinating learning about the nitty gritty details of the Yugoslav conflict. 

 Plus, I’ve loved the opportunity to work in such a diverse environment. My officemates are from all over the world, and I learn a lot from them too. They also make for good company on my weekend trips to Bruges, Brussels, Berlin and Prague.”

Marina is one of 23 HLS students working this summer in 18 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship. Please visit our Chayes Fellowship page to learn more!

Chayes Fellow Kaycie Rupp ’15 on working with the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, Italy

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“I have been working in the Administrative Law Branch of FAO on various research projects involving FAO’s definition of harassment, the validity of settling before going to the International Labor Organization’s Administrative Tribunal, and interpreting and applying the policies and regulations of the UN system. My main tasks have been drafting various disciplinary actions and internal memos.

Throughout the summer, I have come to really enjoy the labor/employment side of things. I have discovered how much difference transferring an employee or fixing the dynamics of an office can affect the overall productivity of the office and the productivity of the agency as a whole.

Working for the UN has been an incredible experience. I am surrounded by people from all different parts of the world that bring interesting work and life experiences to the job. No matter what your job is at FAO, everyone seems to keep in mind the overarching goal of the organization. However, I have had to get used to the working environment here in Italy. It is quite the change to go from the speed and stress of 1L to the Italian lifestyle! 

I feel really lucky to have had the opportunity to work for the UN and to do it while living in Rome. Rome is such a beautiful city with amazing food and wine! Additionally, I have been doing quite a bit of traveling on the weekends with the other HLS interns here in Rome. We have been to Cinque Terre (five towns on the Italian Riviera), Naples where we saw Pompeii and hiked Mount Vesuvius, Venice, Tunisia, and Spain. Italy is a beautiful country and I find the people wonderfully kind. It will be bittersweet to leave.”

(Cinque Terre)

Kaycie is one of 23 HLS students working this summer in 18 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship. Please visit our Chayes Fellowship page to learn more!

 

Chayes Fellow Jodie Liu ’15 on working with the Open Society Justice Initiative, Hungary

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“My time here as OSJI has been really rewarding. I’ve been putting a lot of work into an amicus brief for a freedom of expression case pending before the Argentinean Supreme Court on the liability of Internet search engines for third party violations. The Argentinean Supreme Court considers case precedent from many different countries, so I’ve been doing legal research in at least five languages. Although I have several other projects going on as well, this one has really stood out so far — it’s been really fascinating to see how international freedom of expression law has been developing in different jurisdictions as the capabilities of the Internet become increasingly expansive. 

Budapest is beautifully varied. There are some key places I haven’t visited yet, though, so my next few weekends will be busy.”

Jodie is one of 23 HLS students working this summer in 18 countries under the auspices of the Chayes International Public Service Fellowship. Please visit our Chayes Fellowship page to learn more!

 

Snapshot: Derek Galley, J.D./M.U.P. ’14

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Just a week before Derek arrived in Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, the city implemented a new program eliminating fares on public transportation for city residents. For Derek — who came to Harvard to study urban planning, then became interested in how legal institutions affect how cities develop — this was a local experiment with global significance. “An idea like this helps people get around and save money, but it also challenges the traditional ways that the law thinks about how cities should be governed,” he explained, involving issues ranging from fiscal structures and shifts in urban population to politically marginalized communities. By traveling to Tallinn, Derek was able to do archival research with medieval documents that helped to explain Estonia’s long tradition of local autonomy, then visit City Hall to interview the deputy mayor and director of transportation. Equally important, “I could wait at a bus stop, ask people for change (because I still had to pay), and see who was using the bus,” Derek remembered; “It’s a popular policy, voted in by a referendum, but there was also a lot of cynicism, a sense of disillusionment with the politics behind it.” His winter term project has given him a “rich vein of material” for his academic work and an appetite for more international travel:  “I want to go to places where there’s something to learn from.”

(Please visit “Winter Term 2013: Snapshots from Students” to read about other recent projects.)