Remembering Julia Reichert

The Human Rights Center grieves the departure of Julia Reichert, teacher, mentor, agitator, and filmmaker, who died on December 1. Julia’s half-century of work centered feminist and working class struggles for rights and justice and insisted that all people are endowed with humanity and voice. As a pillar of the greater Dayton community, Julia was a familiar presence at rallies, protests, and communal events. As a celebrated documentarian, Julia’s productions applied an intersectional lens to show how people of different backgrounds and unique experiences may face the same headwinds in the pursuit of dignity.

I first met Julia, and her partner and collaborator Steve Bognar, at a backyard party in the neighborhood that adopted us when we moved to Dayton over ten years ago. They were working on a project called, Reinvention Stories, which featured local residents rebounding from various challenges, particularly economic hardship experienced as a result of the 2008 crisis. Julia and Steve circulated among the crowd with cameras and prompted people to simply be and smile. Nothing special. No explicit purpose except to capture a moment in the life of someone they didn’t even know. It bears foregrounding how radical it is, the suggestion that everyone can be the worthy subject of a photograph or an interview because we are all people with stories of significance.

When the HRC set out to pilot the Moral Courage Project in 2015, Julia and Steve were my first stop. With no background in media production, I sought advice from experts who provided strong examples I hoped only to imitate. They said, you never can know what direction a project may take, despite all the planning, and in order to be prepared to receive and adapt, you must embark with big, open eyes. Julia and Steve instructed me to cultivate a team equipped to enter spaces with humility, guided by the imperative to build trusting and reciprocal relationships.

Julia’s work exemplifies not only how to implement this textbook advice but also why it matters. I taught their films The Last Truck (2009) and American Factory (2019) for years because they possess the singular quality of treating workers as agents with power in spite of the immense structural forces that reinforce and reproduce the interests of the managerial and ownership classes. Both films offer a tender and understated internationalism, one often missing from contemporary discussions on the political left. There is no demonizing “China” and certainly no scapegoating of Chinese workers. Instead, the films, especially American Factory, establish workers’ struggles as bound up together across national and social divides as all struggles for justice and rights truly are.

Neither film is rosy or glamorous; both narrate tales of defeat. But in struggle, regardless of the outcome, workers build collective strength. Even loss and pain can be the source of joy, fortitude, and solidarity. The journey across the horizon to a just future is long and slow and paved with failure but in the struggle itself we can find hope. Yes, history is written by the victors and that’s why documenting our movements is so critical. We must be the authors of our own history, so it is not erased or forgotten. 

In March 2021, the HRC hosted a virtual screening of 9 to 5: The Story of a Movement (2019), which chronicles the unionization efforts of female clerical workers in the 1970s and 1980s. Over one-hundred people attended and dozens remained after for a live talk-balk with Julia and Steve, who stayed long to generously answer questions. The film is instructive for many reasons. Most notably, it presents a literal blueprint for workers in any sector who seek to place checks on bosses that harass and exploit. The stories they capture are universal and remain poignant and relatable. And that relatability is made possible by a presentation that is honest and humane, allowing the women to speak for themselves.

It’s so key and so fundamental and also so rare: There are no voiceless people, only listeners with untrained ears. A producer interested in raising consciousness among the audience needs only to offer up portraits of ordinary people going about their lives fighting for a better world in societies that don’t value them. Mostly show, very little tell. It’s all plain to see if you’re looking.

I’ll miss seeing Julia at the co-op grocer and I’ll miss her invitations to advance screenings of new work. I’ll miss her smile and her toughness. She has left so much behind for us to learn from and to model. 

Our condolences and our love go out to her family and especially to Steve. We have enormous shoes to fill. Time to get to work.

Joel R. Pruce is Associate Professor in the Department of Political Science and Director of Applied Research and Learning at the Human Rights Center, where he also coordinates the Moral Courage Project.

Democracy and the Social Practice of Human Rights in Africa

Globally, democracy is showing tremendous fragility and most indexes note a global shift toward new forms of authoritarianism. The COVID-19 pandemic has only exacerbated this trend and the need for reflection at a time when democracy, human rights, and liberal values are under increasing pressure. This trend is also impacting the African continent in specific ways. Building on the 2021 Social Practice of Human Rights conference, I recently organized a panel on the theme ‘Democracy and the Social Practice of Human Rights in Africa’ as part of the NGO Forum during the 73rd Ordinary Session of the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in The Gambia. This discussion is particularly vital as the work of human rights defenders on the continent can catalyze a broader impact even under political repression.

The panel explored human rights advocacy in the wake of the global pandemic and increasing repressive measures by states and others aimed at curtailing fundamental freedoms. It was comprised of leading African scholar-practitioners, Bonolo Makgale, Manager of the Democracy and Civic Engagement Unit at the Centre for Human Rights, the University of Pretoria; Basiru Bah, Legal Officer- Research at the National Human Rights Commission of The Gambia; Saikou Jammeh, Journalist, and Press Freedom Advocate and Essa Njie, Political Science lecturer, University of The Gambia. The panel tackled four key questions: 

What are the new issues, strategies, and tactics of advocates and repressors in Africa?
For advocates, emphasizing the transnational nature of human rights issues, and thus the need to establish linkages and a strong sense of solidarity, has emerged as a strategic response. Bonolo shared the example from Southern Africa, where there were violent responses from state security agencies in 2020 and 2021. Both physical violence from law enforcement agents, such as the police, and legal violence, where the law was used as a tool of repression, were experienced in Zimbabwe, South Africa, and Eswatini. Notably, this also went beyond the Southern Africa region, given the 2020 #EndSARsprotest in Nigeria against police brutality. A strong sense of solidarity emerged during the #EndSARS protest movement.

The democratization of digital space with the significant increase in digital media use since the pandemic is another evident trend. For example, statistics show that Southern Africa has the 2nd highest social media penetration on the continent, at approximately 45%, placing the region as the second highest social media user after Northern Africa. The increased use and access to social media have given rise to a new form of activism in Africa called ‘hybrid activism.’ Digital media has raised awareness about abuses by states through the increased visibility of human rights violations and state-sanctioned violence, which we have experienced in Africa. Before social media, censorship and the controlled narrative, especially in repressive states, were effective at hiding human rights violations, especially in repressive states. This has meant that states that use repressive tactics to shrink the civic space must evolve.

Repressors, for their part, have increased the use of emergency laws in the Covid era. According to data from the International Centre For Not For Profit Law’s (ICNL’s) Covid-19 Civic Freedom Tracker, 17 states of emergency, 11 public health emergencies, 9 national states of disaster or calamity, and 2 states of health alerts were declared in African countries, thereby placing limitations on freedoms of movement, association, and assembly. This has demonstrated that the legal frameworks regulating society and procedures during public health emergencies are inadequate and outdated. By way of illustration, Basiru noted that since independence, The Gambia had maintained laws that allow for wide curtailment of fundamental rights during public emergencies. Other examples included attempts to postpone elections, the creation of unequal footing relating to campaigning, and other electoral process manipulations. For instance, in Ethiopia, elections that were slated to be held in 2020 were postponed due to COVID-19. In other countries, COVID restrictions were used as opportunities to target opposition members and leaders, including the arrest of Bobi Wine in Uganda and key opposition leaders in Guinea. In some cases, lockdown restrictions were used as tools to prevent gatherings of people from exercising their fundamental rights, such as freedom of assembly and expression. In Malawi, for example, the government tried to use COVID-19 regulations to prevent protests against the outcome of the 2019 election.

What are the challenges facing human rights advocates and groups in Africa? 
With parochial political cultures in Africa, the work of human rights defenders, activists, and civil society is fraught legally, culturally, and practically. As noted by Essa, repressive media laws still exist in many African countries, including The Gambia, coupled with infamous Public Order Acts that severely limit freedom of expression and the right to protest. In addition, there remains a significant limitation in promoting and protecting the rights of vulnerable and marginalized groups, such as women, children, and LGBTIQ. 

What promising strategies, tools, and methods are human rights advocates generating? 
A range of promising practices is emerging in small countries, such as The Gambia, and, more broadly, across the human rights ecosystem. Saikou, in sharing work done by journalists and press freedom advocates, showcased the importance of coalition building. He noted that this has led to some landmark achievements, including initiating and leading the campaign for the enactment of access to information law, the review and amendment of some anti-press and free speech laws, and the establishment of institutions and mechanisms for media development and professionalism. 

It was highlighted that the shift in the political dispensation from solely authoritarian regimes to a more democratic climate across African countries also calls for change in methods. For example, while advocacy in a dictatorship focuses on calling out abuse and campaigning to end tyranny, the current moment demands the use of a combination of investigative reporting and public journalism to promote democracy, human rights, and the rule of law with authorities and also the public. In this era, activists have to work even harder to ensure that the democratic systems and human rights norms that we fought so hard to create are nurtured and sustained. In this regard, democracy must deliver tangible results, such as visible improvements in service delivery, living conditions, good governance, accountability, and justice. An insightful example is the groundbreaking investigations - from election-related issues, environmental crimes, human rights violations, and corruption, leading to prosecutions and reform of laws and policies - done by Malagen, The Gambia’s first and only non-profit investigative journalism magazine. 

Another promising strategy explored is making local human rights campaigns international. Speakers gave practical examples of how they have used mechanisms and instruments from international and regional human rights bodies to make human rights violations more visible and foster collaboration. The examples in Africa reinforce the message that, as noted in our last SPHR 2021 blog, “it is important to not only see human rights as a useful organizing approach or tool, but also its holistic nature in motivating a politics of solidarity and cooperation amongst diverse constituencies.”

How should advocates focus their efforts and who should lead these in Africa? 
One crucial area for advocacy is the intersection among the rising cost of living, food security, and climate change, given that over 85 percent of the population in sub-Saharan Africa is dependent on the informal sector. Individuals and families depend on their daily income for survival, and most have no social protection. The effects of climate change are increasingly being felt, which have broader implications for all facets of life on the continent, including food security, human security, and other socio-economic implications.

While there is a huge opportunity to leverage Africa’s demographic dividend, the continent’s growing and youthful population continue to be one of its underutilized resources.  In asking ourselves, what is the way forward, we coalesced around an approach that leverages the social practice of human rights, one in which human rights activists must be more creative and innovative in their work. The best responses to critical issues facing the Continent are collaborative efforts geared toward building solidarity across issues, organizations, and communities. The consensus view that emerged was that COVID-19 had taught us that working in silos is no longer an effective method. Equally important is the need to use varying methods and tactics of advocacy to build more strategic and impactful campaigns in Africa.

Satang Nabaneh is the Director of Programs at the University of Dayton Human Rights Center and a Research Professor of Law. She is the co-editor of The Gambia in Transition: Towards a New Constitutional Order (PULP, 2022). Her teaching, advocacy, and research focus are on international human rights law and monitoring mechanisms, human rights in Africa, democratization and governance in Africa, and comparative constitutionalism.

Call for Collaborators: Action Research and Rights Collective

Overview

The Action Research and Rights Collective, initiated by the University of Dayton Human Rights Center, began convening in Spring 2022 to lay a foundation for collaboration around methods of inquiry that center dignity, justice, and solidarity in our work. The Collective is part of our efforts to support “action research” methods that advance human rights and build community by generating knowledge in a way that values all forms of expertise, prioritizing people’s lived experience as an essential source. In clear terms, “action research” is guided by a simple set of values: Learn to act, act to learn, and center the participation of those who know.

The goal of the Collective includes three core imperatives to: build a durable community of practice around action research in the human rights space; provide support for experimentation and implementation; and design a feedback process by which we document and share our learning together and from each other in order to improve methods and results. 

If this is new to you, please keep reading. If you’re seasoned in this area, please keep reading. We are a diverse network of individuals with different levels of exposure and background in action research methods but one thing we all share is a desire to grow and improve our practice and do work that matters. We welcome divergent approaches to action research depending on the context, space and types of work being conducted.

Opportunities

We invite applications from individuals, groups, and organizations wishing to join the Collective and particularly encourage submissions from those working in an area that overlaps with Human Rights Center projects as well as emerging priorities:

• Local human rights implementation, including movements, coalitions, and government;
• Transitional and restorative justice and processes of community reconciliation; 
• Applications of intersectional feminist approaches and gender justice;
• Methods that aim to prevent political violence.

We seek collaborators interested in developing their skills in action research to contribute to human rights initiatives, which may be projects underway at the Center or new pitches aligned with the categories above. For the latter, we welcome proposals that would benefit from support at an early stage and from ongoing participation in spaces to learn and workshop with peers.

Process

To be considered, please submit a current resume/CV along with a letter that responds to the following prompts: 

• Who are you? What is your area of work? Within what communities or partnerships?
• Why are you applying? What attracted you to this opportunity?
• What do you hope to do as part of the Collective?
• If applicable, which of the priorities listed above describes your area of interest? 
• How do you anticipate action research featuring in your work?

Once collaborators have been selected, new members will be expected to join quarterly Collective workshops (virtually or in-person) beginning in January 2023 and contribute regularly to platforms we will develop together for reflecting on and sharing out our learning; these may include blogs, podcasts, zines, and other formats. Work from Collective members will be featured at the 2023 Social Practice of Human Rights conference that the Human Rights Center hosts every other fall (dates TBD), after which this cycle will conclude. If this period is fruitful, we anticipate having the capacity for extensions and continued collaboration. 

Researchers selected will receive $2000 for their work, half at the beginning of their participation and the other half at the end, and there will be funds available by request as support for expenses related to new projects.

The deadline for applications is December 12, 2022. 

To submit materials and with any inquiries, please email: Joel R. Pruce, jpruce1@udayton.edu. 

Museums Making Efforts to Address Difficult Histories

The past year has seen significant upheavals in the museum world. Fine Arts museums in Europe and North America have struggled to respond to calls to repatriate objects looted or otherwise misappropriated during colonial conflicts. US Civil Rights museums have faced criticism for failing to fully reckon with contemporary racial injustices. Add to this the lingering impacts of COVID-era museum closures and the acute threat to Ukrainian cultural sites posed by Russia’s invasion and the perils of doing museum work in 2022 are evident. 

In response to these upheavals, I recently organized a symposium on the theme “Museums and Mass Violence: Perils and Potential” with our partner, Leora Kahn from PROOF: Media for Social Justice. Conceived as a follow-up to museum sessions at the 2021 Social Practice of Human Rights conference, this event was co-sponsored by the HRC and Yale University’s Genocide Studies Program to bring together academics, museum curators, and memorial designers for two days of productive conversation in New Haven. It spotlighted the global nature of the issues, featuring professionals active in Australia, South Africa, Laos, Argentina, and the UK, as well as the US and Canada. 

Sociologist Amy Sodaro and Anthropologist Erica Lehrer opened the event with a powerful conversation about the perils and potential of exhibiting mass violence in museums. Sodaro, a co-organizer of the symposium, introduced the notion of “difficult knowledge,” defined as knowledge that relates to historical trauma and places significant emotional and intellectual demands on visitors. Lehrer called attention to the fact that what is difficult for one audience at museums is not always difficult for another. Given that most of the world’s museums are rooted in, if not thematically focused on, mass violence, designers and curators must work purposefully to “reconcile those legacies of racism and elitism before attempting to be beacons of repair.”

Four key questions shaped the subsequent conversation about reconciliation and repair. The first question asked what role politics play in directing or disrupting coverage of mass violence in state memorial museums. Speakers with diverse experiences as designers, directors, and scholars of such museums discussed the challenge of addressing the Uyghur genocide in European museums whose collections stem from colonial expeditions; the problem of identifying and honoring Hutu rescuers of Tutsis during the Rwandan genocide; and the politicized battles over memory of the late-20th century “Dirty War” in contemporary Argentina. Attendees asked provocative questions about whether it was necessary to change the culture of museum going, with its focus on simulation and superficial engagement, in order to better convey difficult historical truths, and likewise questioned the ability of museums to address not just individual visitors but larger social structures.

The second question concerned the ways in which digital technologies are transforming museums’ presentation of mass violence. Participants described their experiences testing augmented reality apps at Dachau and encountering photo-portraits from the Cambodian genocide in high-end furniture stores. An additional topic was the increasing potential of using digital technologies to reconstruct long-shuttered museums of mass violence, via their physical and digital traces. 

A third line of inquiry explored the perils and potential of displaying America’s history of racial atrocities in museum spaces. The group considered who ought to be the principal audience for exhibitions on lynching and other forms of racial terror, as well as the best method of responding when museums or exhibits devoted to racial repair encounter criticism for providing merely symbolic reparations. Additionally, an expert presentation on the creation of a traveling memorial called “Society’s Cage” explained how designers “took the ugliness of racism and turned it into something beautiful in order to draw people in for uncomfortable conversations about race and human rights.”

The final question for the symposium focused further attention on the design of atrocity exhibits. Contributors discussed the Legacy Archive created during Canada’s National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (NIMMIWG), the decisions about architecture and location modelled by South Africa’s Apartheid Museum, and the design of the HRC’s own Ferguson Voices exhibit, undertaken by the Moral Courage Project.

Coming away from this symposium, participants committed to further investigating the perils and potential of confronting mass violence in museum spaces. In a planned publication, speakers will deepen their reflections on the relationship between museums and large-scale social change, and on the power of museums to stage individual and collective confrontations with difficult histories. Additionally, participants expressed interest in collaborating on emerging professional initiatives, such as working groups on the ethics of digitizing material artifacts and policies related to the accession of “awkward objects” (i.e. objects that are difficult to make sense of or that provoke curatorial misgivings) into museum collections. Continuing to research and share lessons learned about this important topic is a crucial step towards integrating museums more completely into the social practice of human rights.

Paul Morrow is a visiting assistant professor of philosophy at the University of Dayton, cross-appointed in the University’s Human Rights Center. He has published essays and articles on Holocaust museums, children’s art in wartime, and human rights advocacy on TikTok. 

2022 Summer Fellowships: GTI-U

As part of the summer fellowship program, two University of Dayton students, Helena and Rachel, worked with Gender Tech Initiative-Uganda (GTI-U), a gender equality organization, aimed at empowering women, young girls, activists, feminists and human right defenders with skills to thwart online censorship, promote research, offer digital safety trainings and awareness in order to mitigate threats of digital attacks and protect them from online harassment. Below they describe their experiences:

Helena: I had the honor of being the social media intern for the GTI-U team. This opportunity has allowed me to really broaden my cultural worldview and to support what the GTI-U team has set out to accomplish. I thoroughly enjoy being a part of something larger than myself – something that not only impacts the women of Uganda but also women here in Kentucky, as well as people anywhere else in the world with access to the internet. 

GTI-U aims to provide relief to an issue I wholeheartedly support. Their ambition is to diminish the harassment and abuse both women and girls may endure online, and to expose them to the endless opportunities offered by the internet and how they can establish a career with their computers. 

It’s no secret that men currently dominate the technology sector – holding a majority of the jobs and leadership positions. Because of this, there has been an increasing digital literacy gap in access to training and awareness between the sexes. It’s vital that we close the gap between men and women in the technology industry to expand on both technological and social advancements. Further, women should have the right to pursue a career in any field they please without fear of discrimination inside and outside the workplace. Raising awareness about digital security training and literacy allows women to use social media without fear of risking identity theft and/or fraud. Everyone should have the right to utilize the internet without being harassed, attacked or scammed. 

Through the collaboration with Ruth Atim, the founder of GTI-U, I utilized social media to promote the organization and its ideals to our ever-growing community. I spoke with her almost daily about what posts we should be pushing out, what  resources we can share with our audience next, and how we can keep the posts interesting and easy to learn from. With the world increasingly relying on the internet, it only makes sense to utilize social media to its fullest capacity to spread awareness of our mission to people who may not know who we are. My work involved both being active on Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram almost every day of the business week and researching how to expand on each platform. To do this, I performed a social media audit that examined each platform on its own and studied what days gathered the most engagement. For example, Twitter is most effective when posting between 11am-4pm on any weekday. Contrastly, Instagram is most effective when I only post two days a week, typically Wednesday and Thursday. Every platform must be catered to in order to maximize participation and engagement.

I thoroughly enjoyed working with the GTI-U team. Their cause is something I believe that everyone can benefit and learn from. Gender technology is a term that should become a part of everyone’s vocabulary, we can not learn from a pressing issue if we’re not aware of what it is in the first place. 

I can’t wait to see GTI-U’s future endeavors and although the summer has ended, I will continue to support the team wholeheartedly. 

Rachel: This summer, I had the opportunity to work as a research intern for GTI-U. I completed two research reports during my time in this role: one about information and communication technology (ICT) clubs as a solution to bridging the digital gender divide; and the other about the online harassment women face, particularly those in journalism and media careers. These reports each put the respective issues in the context of Uganda and provide recommendations and solutions for organizations and various actors involved moving forward.

Throughout my experience, I became more comfortable conducting research on a timeline with specific expectations from a supervisor. I feel more knowledgeable about the topics I researched, and I have a better understanding of the purpose that research plays in raising awareness of issues and acknowledging the work of organizations like GTI-U. My research focuses on issues of digital literacy, safety and awareness and skills building that GTI-U is actively addressing through its initiatives and programs. Overall, I gained insight into the real-world application of my research for GTI-U’s work. For example, my first report on ICT clubs analyzed the positive effects of the GTI-U initiative. I was able to show that the initiative’s implementation enables girls to have greater access to online spaces and careers in technology.

Remote work with an organization in a time zone seven hours ahead of my own presented unique challenges, but ultimately strengthened my ability to self-motivate and manage tasks independently. I communicated with my supervisors solely through WhatsApp, which was a struggle at first as it took longer to get feedback and respond with revisions than I had anticipated. However, I adjusted to this and found more confidence in my choices for report content and structure, reaching out for input less frequently and focusing on having a draft I was proud of before sending it for feedback. Unfortunately, I was not able to meet others in the organization besides my two supervisors which was a barrier to understanding the connections between various departments and initiatives. 

Overall, this internship provided me with opportunities for growth, both personal and professional. While this remote experience is different from other internships that offer  more direct engagement with staff and the organization, I still found it a beneficial learning experience. I enjoyed the work and am proud of what I produced.

Helena Thompson is a full time student attending the University of Dayton from Goshen, Kentucky. She studies political science and entrepreneurship where she ambitions a career that creates real, tangible change in the world. 

Rachel Veneman is a 2022 graduate from the University of Dayton with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology. She will be attending the Ohio State University Moritz College of Law this fall and is excited for her next steps towards a future legal career.

2022 Summer Fellowships: BHRRC

This summer, I had the privilege to be a part of the Business & Human Rights Resource Centre (BHRRC) team as an intern having worked with this team during the Spring 2022 semester and extending for the summer.  I worked directly with the Latin America team, which was a fantastic experience. My skills of being fluent in English and Spanish allowed me to work with different people. 

The BHRRC works to advance human rights in business and eradicate abuses. They amplify the voices of the vulnerable and human rights advocates in civil society, media, companies and governments.  While I worked directly with the Latin America team, I participated in a weekly meeting with the global team which allowed me to understand the full scope of the organization’s mission. An important part of the team are the regional researchers, who are located all over the world. They go to local communities to understand the impacts of businesses on the ground and regularly talk with business professionals and government officials. Then they release briefings and analyses, synthesizing the work of hundreds of advocates worldwide and making recommendations for companies, governments, regions, and sectors.

During my internship, I acquired knowledge of human rights, specifically in the Latin American context. The institutional work on human rights in the region is divided between the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. The commission exists to guarantee and monitor human rights in the Americas. The Court is a judicial arm that decides on an individual petition against the state for human rights violation. 

In my role, I worked on issues like the right to water, and human rights litigation. In several Latin American countries, access to water is not equal for everyone. Many companies pollute the waters and limit access to safe drinking water for people. There is no doubt that the right to clean water is one of several human rights that is constantly violated in several countries. Through different investigations, we documented the violations and  created mapping tools on business litigation and human rights in Latin America. 

I also contributed to the creation of a lawsuit database, translation to update the Spanish part of the BHRRC website, the Latin American Strategic litigation network directory, and some article analysis. The lawsuit database aims to provide a tool for organizations and companies to easily look up for updates on cases through a link to access all the necessary information about the lawsuit. In addition, it provides the names of the companies involved in the lawsuit, the issues involved in the lawsuit, the response sectors, the affected countries, the status of the lawsuit and the type of litigation.Between these tasks, I also worked on a major project of  a publication that discusses human rights litigation related to companies in Latin America, considering experiences from practice.

My last task was preparing for the VII Regional Forum on Business and Human Rights which was held from July 13 - 15, 2022, in Bogotá, Colombia, in a hybrid way. This year’s theme was accountability for responsible business conduct. The forum explored opportunities, challenges and practices to improve accountability regarding business and human rights in the region engaging key stakeholders from different countries and sectors. Some of the participants of the forum were representatives of state institutions, businesses, trade unions, civil society organizations, indigenous peoples and local communities, law firms, investors, international and regional organizations, academia and media. 

My direct supervisor at BHRRC during the internship was one of the key speakers of the forum. It was gratifying to see how the forum reflected everything that we had been working on for months. It was also crucial for me to see how the impacted people participated in these forums and the ways they were concerned about human rights situations. These people belonged to different communities where their rights have been violated. I know now that the participation of these people is important because they are the ones directly affected. It was  gratifying to see how a space is provided for them to express themselves.

This fellowship has been a wonderful experience because I felt I was able to make a difference for vulnerable people and victims of abuse. The team I was a part of always worked hard to address suspected abuse quickly and directly with companies. The Latin America team always made me feel like one of them and allowed me to be in their weekly meetings. That way, I could be informed of all the latest updates. I was also able to experience how teamwork is essential, not only within the Latin American team or the BHRRC in general, but also among different centers of the human rights movement. Cooperative work is done with allies and partners around the world.

I will never forget this experience since I acquired a lot of knowledge in business and human rights and could connect these topics with immigration law, which is one of my areas of interest. I would recommend to everyone to seek out experiences with the BHRRC because it allows you to explore human rights issues in other countries and highlights how you can really work towards helping those faced with human rights abuses.

Valerie Vaello-Ramos is a law student from Puerto Rico. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice with a minor in Law and Society from the University of Puerto Rico. She is fluent in English and Spanish; her main interests are business law and immigration law.

2022 Summer Fellowships: Legacies of War

As part of the summer fellowship program, University of Dayton student, Breanna Adams, worked with Legacies of War, an educational and advocacy organization working to address the impact of the American Secret War and the conflict in Southeast Asia, including removal of unexploded ordnance (UXO). Below she describes her experiences

My name is Breanna Adams and I had the great honor and privilege of joining the Legacies of War organization as a Human Rights Center Summer Fellow. My journey at Legacies has given me the opportunity to better understand the world around me. This fellowship has opened my eyes to recognize that sometimes human suffering is hidden in the shadows or even a secret. I now know the importance of shedding light and spreading awareness on issues that may be controversial to some, but are a necessity to recognize in order to help others heal the wounds of the past. I connected with the organization’s mission to help remove unexploded ordnances that still impact the livelihoods of so many innocent civilians so many years after the Vietnam conflict. People should be able to flourish in the societies they live in without being injured or killed by the actions that took place long before they were born. Innocent children, women and men should never be in the predicament where their rights to enjoy their lives securely and safely today are compromised by past conflict. 

The “Secret War''  in Laos and Cambodia is a war that the United States perpetrated and covered up since the Vietnam War era. The United States dropped more than 2.5 million tons of ordnances between 1964-1973 in Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam during 580,000 bombing missions. This made Laos the most heavily bombed country per capita in history. The “Secret War” was perpetrated to help support the Royal Lao Government against the Pathet Lao and to interdict traffic of weapons and soldiers along the Ho Chi Minh Trail, which displaced, injured and killed millions of people in Laos.

The mission of Legacies of War is to raise awareness about the history of these bombings and to remove undetonated ordnances that remain particularly in Laos. The organization also helps to provide a space for healing the wounds of war, and to create a future of hope and peace. It was established by Laotian-Americans in 1964-1973 when illustrations were collected by an American educational adviser Fred Branfman and his Laotian colleague Bounguen Lampreuserth. The illustrations depict the gruesome images of lives lived through the terrors of war and bombings in Laos and its surrounding environments in Cambodia and Vietnam. 

During my time at Legacies, I worked on many projects including a land mass comparison that showed the extent of the impacted land by UXOs/undetonated ordinances in Laos  in the context of each U.S state. The purpose is to give the audience a better understanding and perspective on the impact as if it were their own land affected. I  was also given the opportunity to write an op-ed piece on advocacy that was featured in the Legacies of War newsletter in August of 2022. In addition, I researched historical art organizations that could work with Legacies to preserve the original illustrations that contributed to the founding of Legacies of War. Finally, I was given the chance to advocate with my local Congressman Joe Morelle representing the 25th District of New York to join the UXO/Undetonated ordinances in the Laos caucus. I am pleased to note that Congressman Morelle joined the caucus on September 6th 2022.

What I take away from this work is a lesson of accountability. I believe that no human being should bear the burden and suffering from an event that happened before or around the time of their birth. Even though we are a half a century after the fact, accountability remains important in order to restore peace and justice for those who have been impacted. It is time that conversations about these issues take place on a global stage and shed more light on this injustice. 

Legacies of War stands for a cause that all people can learn and benefit from. The “Secret War'' should no longer be a secret and should come to light and be taught in our education systems and in our societies. This is not just a war of far and foreign places, but a war our country, our homeland created. As Americans, we should reflect on how we can turn this dark past into a bright future of hope and peace for our world. It is our moral responsibility to make sure that history doesn't repeat itself and we learn from the past to help create a safer and better future for all. 

I am excited to see the great work of Legacies of War flourish and become a mainstream topic and lesson for our world. As the summer comes to a close, I am sad that my time at Legacies is ending but hope that I can still contribute and support this extraordinary organization and cause.

Breanna Adams is a full time rising Junior at the University of Dayton from Rochester, New York. Breanna is an international studies major and a human rights, pre-law and Arabic minor. She is in pursuit of a career in International Human Rights Law and hopes to advocate for those who are gravely suffering from human rights abuses and violations.

2022 Summer Fellowships: Cristosal

As part of the summer fellowship program, two University of Dayton students, David and Ashley, worked with Cristosal, a non-profit that works to promote justice, human rights, and democratic societies in the northern triangle of Central America (El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras), through strategic litigation, research, learning, human rights monitoring, and assistance to victims of human rights violations. Below they describe their experiences.

David: Over the summer, I worked for Cristosal in its headquarters in El Salvador. Their vision is to empower and inspire intercultural organization through international solidarity. They use flexible methodologies that provide support and education for victims of human rights abuses and center the experiences of every person as the foundation for human rights progress. 

I worked with the human rights research team on four projects. The first was translations of a recent publication of stories, called “A la buena de Dios,” which documents personal stories of migrants in northern Central America. The reasons for displacement range from disparate opportunities, gang violence, state neglect, to LGBTQIA+ discrimination. For the other three projects I created infographics for Cristosal’s interactive map of forced displacement, Sistema de Alerta Territorial (Territorial Alert System) for Guatemala, Honduras, and El Salvador. The causes of displacement were similar to those described in the cuentas I translated, with the addition of displacement from climate change. 

I also did other minor projects, such as translating the press release about human rights violations promoted by the rising dictator’s regimen de excepcion, translating an infographic documenting mobility data from migrants returned to El Salvador, and assisting with several workshops dedicated to human rights education and mobilization.

I take away a number of skills and insights from this experience. First, I had never been outside of the United States before, let alone been in a country where English is not the primary language. On a personal level, I am returning with a sharpened skill (but certainly not mastered) of Spanish speaking.

Second, I also left the U.S. with expectations of the subjects of my independent research and expectations of the country. I have developed a greater sensitivity and understanding of how different societies shape the meaning of things. For example, I had an understanding that workers are those who work in the formal sector or perform some type of job consistently – however, workers still exist in insecurity, invisibility, and in informal spaces. For example, women’s work is largely invisible when performed in the home, despite the fact that they may contribute to an artisan industry, however insecure. Additionally, I had a perception of being in imminent danger  of El Salvador, given the press coverage on the state of exception and soaring murder rates and disappearances. I found though that this is mostly a matter of foreign perception and a legacy of racist communication. I would be forgiven for thinking that the country is not really as dangerous as the press conveys. But for many people in spaces I didn’t see throughout the country, the violence and gore is real.

I think that the theme that ties the two together is visibility. What we see and what is seen forms our reality, and greater exposure is what best reflects a more comprehensive sense of that reality. My increased/deeper understanding of work or danger is best understood through what I see given what my privileges afford me. For example, my privilege as a man allows me to not recognize invisible work because the work that men do is primarily in formal spaces; my privilege coming from a relatively wealthy country as a traveler allows me to enter or leave places I feel uncomfortable in whenever I want; my privilege as a student allows me to learn about the lived experiences without having to live them personally.

Finally, intercultural communication was the hardest part of my internship. But language is not the greatest barrier; fear is. It’s very easy to fall into using translators and using them as a crutch for communication, but I only learned so much from doing this. For me to learn the most and gain confidence in interpersonal communication, I needed to shamelessly make mistakes in speaking. I think this is a tactic that I will continue to employ with sensitivity when encountering different cultures. 

I also return to the United States emphasizing the importance of learning the realities and histories of other cultures, with the expectation that some things will be incomprehensible and illogical. By visiting historical places and hearing the stories of those who have been affected by human rights abuse, I learned to focus more on what others have to say rather than simply to understand how to overcome painful or simply different histories. 

My time in El Salvador with Cristosal and those who they work with has helped me to better understand the diversity of work in human rights, from the base to the top. I developed a strong network of human rights professionals, advocates, researchers, students, and teachers throughout El Salvador, with extensions throughout Latin America. I worked primarily in an institution catered to high-level cooperation on a governmental level, but I found my niche working at the base. I hope to continue my development as a human rights advocate in communal spaces by recording their stories and supporting their fight for liberation by utilizing recognition in research and grassroots mobilization through human rights education.

Picture by David Quick: Monumento a la Paz y Reconciliación (Monument to Peace and Reconciliation) to honor the 986 people killed in the massacre of El Mozote; featured in the monument (left to right): Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Teresa of Calcutta, Pope John Paul II, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., (not pictured): Saint Francis of Assisi, Jesus Christ, a silhouette of the family

Ashley: Over the summer, I had the opportunity to engage with two unique learning opportunities. The first part of the summer I spent studying abroad in Prague, Czech Republic where I was able to immerse myself in a vastly interesting intercultural environment. In the second part of my summer, I worked as a fellow for Cristosal which is a nonprofit organization that works to promote justice, human rights, and democratic societies in Central America through strategic litigation, research, learning, human rights monitoring, and assistance to victims of human rights violations.

During my time working as a fellow for Cristosal I learned about the types and magnitude of human rights violations that occur in El Salvador, Guatemala, and Honduras. I spent most of my time sifting through field reports of human rights violations that had been collected by the Protection and Investigation teams to condense them into a more comprehensible report. Another task I had was making infographics that described what was happening in these three countries. One of the infographics I spent the most time on was about the state of emergency that had to be declared in El Salvador due to an uproar about unsafe circumstances related to gang activity. Lastly, I spent some of my time interpreting data on immigration and refugees. I became familiar with the fact that over half of those seeking refugee were doing it because of the violence and unsafe circumstances they confront in their lives in Central America 

While I was in the Czech Republic I studied international public relations and the history of propaganda. The international public relations course introduced me to the study of public relations across international boundaries and cultures. This course broadened my knowledge of what defines culture, what makes one different from the other, and how to interact with people that are not the same as you. Most importantly, this class showed me that despite all cultural differences, people are all human. We should take interest in what makes us different rather than isolating ourselves to a closed-minded perspective. This class provided me with the opportunity to visit the United States Embassy in Prague and Radio Free Europe which is a government-funded organization that broadcasts uncensored reports in various parts of the world.

The history of propaganda class laid out the framework of what propaganda is and how it has evolved over time. As part of the course we took multiple  experiential learning trips including one to Terezin, which is a concentration camp that was established during the Holocaust. This was a very eye-opening experience for me as I was able to walk the same grounds that innocent people once suffered on.

While I walked through the concentration camp where so many people suffered I realized that the suffering has not ended for a lot of people. With the Czech Republic's close proximity to Ukraine, I was able to meet and hear from numerous Ukrainian refugees. The stories I heard broke my heart but encouraged me to recognize my privilege and use it to do something beneficial to help those who need it. This shift in my mindset was something that the Czech people had already recognized in themselves. The Czech people all take part in a collectivist mindset that goes beyond national boundaries. A lot of this mindset comes from  the deep history with World Wars, revolutions, and communist regimes.

When I came home and began my fellowship, I became very aware of how little the United States government is doing to help Central America. Moreover, how little the citizens of the United States are doing to help. While the lack of effort to help Central America may be derived from ignorance around what is going on, much of it can be attributed to selfishness and laziness. Although the problem is complex, one google search is enough to get a basic understanding of what is going on. Acknowledgment is the first step in doing your part, after this, you can spread awareness.

David Michael Quick is a rising senior with majors in human rights studies and philosophy. He is studying the ways dehumanization and visibility affect the utility of human rights discourse.

Ashley Walker is a senior pursuing a degree in communication with a concentration in management and a minor in public relations. She has been working with the HRC as a marketing and communications intern and is passionate about environmental justice, women’s rights, and advocacy for racial equity.