Many students and recent graduates from around the world come to spend time interning at IHRP. This is a great opportunity for people wanting to gain experience in a wide range of human rights work (which can help to choose a career path that fits you), or students and researchers who want to spend time in Thailand to support their understanding of certain issues. Some students can gain credit towards their courses from interning at IHRP. Interning at IHRP can also help you to network with key human rights and peace organisations who we collaborate with regularly.
Here are a few of our current and former intern’s stories:
Jason
I am currently a student on the Master’s programme in the Theory and Practice of Human Rights at the University of Oslo. My interests in human rights stem from my legal education and work experience, and I am particularly interested in the rule of law and the proper limits of political power that encroach upon human rights and values, such as personal liberty and freedom of speech.
One of the requirements of the Master’s programme was the completion of an internship programme. As SHAPE SEA has long-standing links with the Norwegian Centre for Human Rights where my Master’s programme is based, it offered such an internship which I could apply for. I had chosen to do this internship with SHAPE SEA primarily because of its focus on human rights education and advocacy in Asia. I felt this could allow me to acquire more knowledge about issues in Asia which, as an Asian myself, I needed to be more up to speed with, given that my tertiary education had largely been in the West.
So far, I have been drafting policy briefs based on completed research projects funded by SHAPE SEA. This has allowed me to acquire knowledge on a wide range of human rights issues in various countries in Asia, such as workers’ rights in Myanmar, or judicial independence in Indonesia, which have been very interesting and enriching. It has inspired me to write my thesis on an issue in Asia, as well as consider a human rights career in Asia, particularly in Thailand.