A Summer as In-House Fellows with the IHRP: A Transformative Summer of Research, Advocacy, and Learning in International Human Rights Law

By: Rebecca Dragusin (2L) and Jaerin Kim (2L)

Photo provided by International Human Rights Program

The 2024 In-House fellows for the International Human Rights Program (IHRP) had the opportunity to support the organization’s work through research projects and drafting related to current human rights issues that involve Canada. Among these projects, the fellows worked on creating reports for international bodies and drafting documents related to domestic interventions in ongoing cases. The IHRP also facilitated weekly lectures with international law experts, which supported our research and allowed us to explore our individual interests in international law.

This year’s IHRP team was composed of Jaerin Kim (2L), Ostara McDonald (3L), and Rebecca Dragusin (2L). Our supervising team was James Yap (Acting Director), Nabila Khan (Research Associate), and Monika Hanna (Program Coordinator).

Open Source Research on Maternal Care in Gaza for a Submission to the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW Committee)

All In-House Fellows had an opportunity to contribute to the IHRP’s CEDAW report. This research was conducted with the University of Chicago Law School’s Global Human Rights Clinic, which allowed us to complete research that touched on various areas of maternal care. For example, the team looked into conditions in hospitals and field hospitals for women giving birth, access to care for pregnant women, available postpartum care, and pediatric care. This research was used to complete a submission to the CEDAW Committee regarding Canada’s periodic review, which argued for Canada’s failure to comply with its extraterritorial obligations under Article 12: Right to Health of the CEDAW Convention. This project gave us a unique opportunity to witness how a submission to an international legal body is done from scratch and contribute to a submission in collaboration with various law students and lawyers.

Research Projects to Facilitate the IHRP’s Future Work

Additionally, the In-House Fellows conducted independent research in the fall to facilitate future projects under the IHRP’s mandate. For example, one fellow completed an overview of climate change litigation cases wherein plaintiffs invoked legal rights. These cases included Canadian examples like Mathur and La Rose and international decisions from all continents. Another fellow worked on compiling all recent Supreme Court of Canada (SCC) cases that have commented on international law, such as Nevsun and Vavilov.

Throughout the summer, we greatly appreciated the personalized attention the IHRP team gave each of us. This attention allowed us to work on assignments that matched our individual interests and backgrounds. The various assignments also taught us about different areas of law that we never thought would be directly relevant to our work in international human rights, from competition policy to tax law.

Guest Lectures from International Law Experts

The IHRP facilitated weekly guest lectures from international law experts to help us better understand our work and our personal interests in international law. The topics of these lectures included reproductive health law, investor-state dispute resolutions, and ethics in law. This aspect of our summer experience was incredibly rewarding because it provided us with a space for critical discussion and an opportunity to expand our understanding of the diverse aspects of international human rights law.

Reflections

Overall, our time at the IHRP was an incredibly rewarding experience. While all of us already possessed some background knowledge of international law before this summer, the fellowship confirmed our interests in international human rights law and provided us with solid legal work experience in the field. We are also deeply grateful that the fellowship has provided us with a renewed interest in both our legal education and career. After an intense year of studying, it is easy to lose sight of important things outside of classrooms, such as our career aspirations and what we initially came to law school to accomplish. Spending our summer at the IHRP allowed us to recharge our energy and regain our enthusiasm for the study and practice of law.

We are proud to call ourselves IHRP alumni and are looking forward to keeping in touch with the broader IHRP community!