Are social services also human rights? 

Human Rights Intern Report-Back Panel:                                        

SOCIAL SERVICE AS A HUMAN RIGHT                                          

Monday, October 28

4:30 pm–6:00 pm                                                                

SSA (Social Service Administration Building)                                        

969 E. 60th Street [map]                                                                          

Room W-IV         

------------------followed by--------------------

Application Review Session                              

Monday, October 28                                                                               

6:00-7:00 pm                                                                                     

SSA (Social Service Administration Building)                                      

969 E. 60th Street [map]                                                                 

Room W-IV   

 

*Applicants for the 2014 Human Rights Summer Internship are strongly urged to attend.*

Human Rights Internship Report-Back panels are held throughout the year as a forum for returning interns to share their experience with the campus community.  There will be an opportunity for Q&A with the returning interns, as well as time to interact with HRP staff and ask questions about the Human Rights Internship Program.  

Governments often treat social service as an optional function. What difference does it make if social services are seen inside a human rights framework? How does this framework change the experience of people who receive services? And of people who deliver them?                          

Sean Burr, Anna Kapke, and Liz Alexander will offer accounts of their time on the front lines of service delivery, and Alex Ducett will provide a contrasting case from inside an advocacy organization. Sean worked at a homeless service center in Canada. Alexa assisted in community development with sex workers in Thailand. Liz helped to create a restorative justice tradition in Trinidad and Tobago. Alex supported democracy efforts in Burma.

At the application review session that follows the report-back, expert writer Elise LaRose will offer specific guidance on application drafting. Bring a copy of whatever you have written so far. Elise and others will conduct small on-the-spot workshops, looking over outlines, snippets, and drafts in order to help applicants firm up their texts.

Sponsored by the Human Rights Program. Snacks provided.

Questions? Accommodations needed?                                      

Contact Duff Morton (duffmorton@uchicago.edu)

About the Interns: 

Sean Burr (Victoria, BC, Canada)

Sean’s internship focused on the universal human right to adequate housing with Our Place Society in Victoria, BC, Canada. As a result of its temperate climate, Victoria has one of the largest homeless populations in Canada. Our Place Society responds to this need with temporary housing, mental health services, and employment supports. Our Place does outreach and advocacy to raise local awareness of homelessness and inequality. Sean conducted a comprehensive survey with the local homeless population to develop recommendations to improve Our Place Society’s responsiveness to their needs and broader justice issues.

Alex Ducett (Washington, DC, US)

Alex worked at the US Campaign for Burma in Washington, DC, a small organization that coordinates with a network of grassroots activists in Burma and around the world to advocate for political reform in Burma and to bring attention to the systematic human rights abuses happening in the country. Alex assisted with all aspects of the organization’s campaigns this summer, a critical time for the growth of democracy in Burma.

Anna Knapke (rural Northeast Thailand)

Anne worked with the Thai Restoration Community Development Foundation in rural Northeast Thailand where she supported the organization's mission of "breaking the cycle" of migration to urban centers to work in the high-risk sex industry.  Her organization establishes community-based efforts to restore and transform families, education systems, and the economies of local communities. Anne strove to expand resources for the organization through partnerships, conducted social research that will inform economic development programs, and carried out a photo-journalism project.

Elizabeth Alexander (Trinidad & Tobago)

Liz’s placement was with the Caribbean Umbrella Body for Restorative Behaviour (CURB). CURB is the first and only Caribbean network of non-profit associations working to assist and support criminal offenders, ex-offenders, crime survivors, and their respective families. CURB organizes the non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and community-based organizations (CBOs) across the Caribbean to promote and implement models of restorative justice. Liz built partnerships with non-profits in Trinidad & Tobago and helped develop new initiatives for CURB’s target populations.