“My internship with the Council of Europe’s Committee on Legal Affairs and Human Rights this summer is absolutely marvelous, and my supervisor, coworkers, and fellow interns are from all over the world, speak multiple languages, and are wonderful to work with. I am learning a great deal about international human rights law and how countries execute (or not) the European Court of Human Rights’ judgments. I spend most of my time writing, editing, and translating reports, but I’ve also been able to sit in on both the Committee of Ministers’ and the Parliamentary Assembly’s sessions this summer. While the reports I work on are entirely based on facts and law, it has been unbelievable to see how the different states interact with one another at the sessions and how political the discussions become.”

“My summer here has been an interesting, eye-opening experience. The general European baseline perspective on human and civil rights varies significantly from that of the US and Latin America–and is often more liberal in affording positive freedoms than we are…I spent the first week of my internship attending a meeting of the Committee of Ministers, Subcommittee of Experts on the Reform of the Court. I listened to representatives from each country and the Registry of the Court debate different proposals. The following weeks were spent meeting with the Legal Affairs and Human Rights Secretariat, and conducting interviews with various judges from the European Court of Human Rights, Registry lawyers and members of the Committee of Ministers Secretariat…Although it is frustrating to have to navigate around such diverse interests from each State Party, as well as the fragmented Council of Europe bodies, I have hope that the end result of my work will actually help to bring some change, and allow the Court and the Council as a whole to function more effectively and efficiently.”