Law Stu­dent Vir­tual Intern­ship, 2004–2005

The Insti­tute for Jus­tice and Democracy’s (IJDH) Vir­tual Intern­ship Pro­gram pro­vides highly moti­vated law stu­dents an oppor­tu­nity to con­tribute to a start-up human rights orga­ni­za­tion that is already on the cut­ting edge of advo­cacy for the rights of Haiti’s poor.

IJDH was estab­lished to respond to last February’s vio­lent and unlaw­ful inter­rup­tion of Haiti’s demo­c­ra­tic process.  The Insti­tute fights for the return of democ­racy and the rule of law to Haiti by doc­u­ment­ing human rights vio­la­tions, dis­sem­i­nat­ing accu­rate infor­ma­tion and pur­su­ing legal claims in Haiti and abroad.   IJDH col­lab­o­rates closely with grass­roots groups, human rights orga­ni­za­tions and oth­ers work­ing to pro­mote human rights in Haiti, espe­cially the polit­i­cal, social and eco­nomic rights of the major­ity of Haitians who are poor.
IJDH grew out of the  Bureau des Avo­cats Inter­na­tionaux (BAI), a group of lawyers from Haiti, North Amer­ica, Europe and Africa who have helped vic­tims pros­e­cute human rights cases and trained Hait­ian lawyers since 1995.  BAI’s work has been lauded by the United Nations and human rights orga­ni­za­tions as a land­mark in the fight against impunity.  It has been fea­tured in mag­a­zine arti­cles, news­pa­per, radio and tele­vi­sion sto­ries, and an award-winning doc­u­men­tary.  The office’s inno­v­a­tive com­bi­na­tion of legal strate­gies, pub­lic pres­sure and engage­ment with the jus­tice sys­tem is a model for tran­si­tional jus­tice pro­grams– in fact it became a case study at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

IJDH and BAI have coop­er­ated with some of the nations’ top law schools through clin­i­cal pro­grams, inde­pen­dent study and and sum­mer intern­ships.  IJDH has devel­oped the most com­plete doc­u­men­ta­tion of human rights vio­la­tions in Haiti since Feb­ru­ary, and its lawyers are reg­u­larly con­sulted as experts by jour­nal­ists through­out the world, U.S. gov­ern­ment offi­cials and par­ties before U.S. courts.

IJDH Vir­tual Interns will work with the Institute’s lawyers and inves­ti­ga­tors in Haiti and Joseph, Ore­gon by tele­phone and inter­net.  They will do three types of projects: a) sub­stan­tive human rights work, includ­ing legal research and writ­ing and prepar­ing human rights reports; b) orga­ni­za­tional work such as grant writ­ing; and c) grass­roots advo­cacy projects, includ­ing plan­ning and imple­ment­ing grass­roots cam­paigns.    IJDH encour­ages and assists its lawyers and interns to write pub­lish­able pieces on our work and on human rights in Haiti.

Interns must com­mit to at least 10 hours per week dur­ing the semes­ter.  We can­not offer a stipend, but will coor­di­nate with law schools to arrange for course credit.

Required Qual­i­fi­ca­tions:
Excel­lent writ­ten advo­cacy skills
2L, 3L or Grad­u­ate Stu­dent
High degree of moti­va­tion and ini­tia­tive, and an abil­ity to work inde­pen­dently
Some knowl­edge of French

Pre­ferred Qual­i­fi­ca­tions:
Flu­ency in French (knowl­edge of Hait­ian Cre­ole a plus)
Expe­ri­ence in a small NGO, includ­ing fundrais­ing,
Human rights Expe­ri­ence
Grass­roots Advo­cacy Expe­ri­ence
Com­puter skills

We are cur­rently accept­ing appli­ca­tions for fall and spring terms.  To apply, send a cover let­ter, resume, writ­ing sam­ple and two ref­er­ences to Brian@ijdh.org.  For more infor­ma­tion about IJDH, see www.ijdh.org, or email info@ijdh.org.  Fall term appli­ca­tions should be sub­mit­ted by Octo­ber 15, Spring term appli­ca­tions by Decem­ber 1.

Thanks, Brian