I've based my entire career, largely, in Africa, in refugee camp situations, doing refugee protection. Now I've branched out into more general policy work. The PRAL fellowship was fundamental to my career to date. If I had not done that work, I would have likely done something different in my career.
—Taylor Garrett, '03, Southern Africa Regional Office, USAID/DCHA/OFDA
Fellows in Refugee and Asylum Law
Each year since 1999, the Program in Refugee and Asylum Law has selected three to five students to participate in its fellowship program. They receive a stipend for living and travel expenses to use during a summer internship, where they will work closely with a recognized leader in the refugee law field at one of a select group of partner organizations from around the world, supported through a gift from Ronald Olson, '66, and his wife, Jane, a longtime human rights activist.
The fellowships, which last between six and 10 weeks, are designed to enable students to confront the ways in which refugee law as theoretically conceived is reshaped by institutional constraints, resource limitations, and general social, political, and economic forces. Students immerse themselves in the practical implementation of international refugee law, as well as contribute to the placement agency. More critically, they receive one-on-one mentoring from a leading figure in international refugee law.
Recent fellowship placements have taken students to Auckland; Brussels; Canberra, Australia; London; Lusaka, Zambia; Quito, Ecuador; Kathmandu; and Washington, D.C.
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The 2012 fellows, from left: 3Ls Meredith Garry (United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Nepal), Pauline Hilmy (European Council on Refugees and Exiles in Brussels), Jessica Soley (Asylum Access in Quito, Ecuador), and Palmer Lawrence (Human Rights Watch in Washington, D.C.). |