Making a practical contribution: APF interns

The APF Secretariat recently farewelled Christina Trahanas, a law student from the University of New South Wales, who completed a highly productive 10-month internship in April.

During her time at the APF, Christina provided considerable support to the Advisory Council of Jurists’ (ACJ) reference on the right to environment, undertaking research on a wide range of human rights law relating to the environment, such as the right to work, procedural rights and corruption.

She also drafted a number valuable background documents, including ‘guidelines’ on environmental procedural rights, as well as assisting in the preparation and editing of the ACJ’s ‘Draft Observations and Recommendations’ and the Final Report.

In addition, Christina undertook research to examine some of the Bills to establish national human rights institutions in the Asia Pacific region and their consistency with the Paris Principles, as well as assisting with the APF’s review of the role and functions of the ACJ.

A highlight of her internship was attending the ACJ meetings in Sydney last year when the jurists met to develop their recommendations for the environment reference.

“I felt very fortunate to be involved in those meetings because I observed how ideas were debated and formulated and also had the opportunity to meet so many interesting people,” she said.

“During my time at the Secretariat I learnt a lot about the scope and contents of certain areas of human rights, as well as some of the 'nuances' of thinking and writing about human rights.”

The APF benefited enormously from Christina’s research skills, dedication and professionalism, said Pip Dargan, Deputy Director of the APF Secretariat

“She made an outstanding contribution, particularly in helping to prepare and coordinate so much of the research materials for the environment reference.”

The APF established its internship program in 1996 to support university students develop professional skills through on-the-job experience and exposure to the work of national human rights institutions in the region.

Although not paid employees, interns are treated as full staff members and given specific responsibilities. Each intern is also assigned to a senior staff member for supervision and mentoring.

Renee Chartres, from the University of New South Wales, has recently joined the APF on a short-term internship to assist the current ACJ reference on Corporate Social Responsibility and to develop a ‘Paris Principles checklist’ to assess the enabling legislation of national human rights institutions.

Internships at the APF are currently provided on an ad hoc basis to ensure that each intern is able to receive sufficient staff supervision and appropriate work opportunities.