Let's Talk Human Rights

By Gabriela Garlo

I’m sick to my stomach. I’m reading every article. I’m watching every documentary. I’m learning everything I can about this human rights issue I was completely unaware of until now. I have to go to D.C. this summer.

I’m a homebody. I’m not a risk-taker. I don’t like trying new things. I remember seeing the fellowship showcase at the HRC; I was there on accident because I spent the majority of my time at the HRC. I looked at all the posters and paused at Halo Trust. I wasn’t even going to consider it until later that night I found myself looking up the website.

Working with The Halo Trust USA team in Washington D.C was the greatest honor. I knew nothing about demining when I first looked at that poster. After working here over the summer, I feel incredibly passionate about advocating for demining efforts. The mission of Halo Trust is demining which is helping countries recover after conflicts, particularly dealing with unexploded ordnances (UXOs) which are explosive weapons that haven’t detonated yet.

I worked a lot with advocacy to find ways to get people involved with supporting the demining caucus and bringing in more funds. If you’re reading this blog right now and you care about human rights whatsoever, go to the Halo Trust USA website and press one little button to push your representative to do more for demining. There are many reasons you should support Halo Trust but the two most important are the people living in these unsafe areas and the people working to make these areas safe.

The biggest message I have learned from this HRC Fellowship experience is to never fear the idea of being uncomfortable when it comes to human rights. There were many times when I was uncomfortable working with Halo Trust. I heard mothers talk about losing their children when they went out to collect crickets, children are the biggest victims when it comes to UXOs. I heard people talk about losing the homes they lived in for years because they couldn’t continue to live in constant fear. I heard the doctors talk about the horrors that entered their hospitals and not being able to do anything about it because they didn’t have the proper supplies. These stories make me passionate about the mission of Halo Trust.

The second reason is the amount of work that goes into making a campaign and focusing on advocacy. The greatest pleasure I had all summer was being able to work under Kristin Stevens and Lauren Henesay with the Advocacy Department. As someone who would frequently go to action pages for different human rights issues, I hadn’t realized how much goes into creating those campaigns. For the user, it’s just a simple button to press. But for organizations like Halo Trust USA, there are many different actions that need to be taken. There are many obstacles with accepting government funding for demining and having to remain bipartisan. Everything that goes into campaigning is meticulous.

When I first decided to be the Halo Trust USA fellow, I decide to start researching demining and becoming extremely interested in learning more about this sector of human rights. Before I had even started to work with Halo, I was offered a position with Legacies of War to continue with my efforts in advocating for demining. The Legacies of War Fellowship is a six-month long program and works with demining efforts in Southeast Asia.

Working with Legacies of War is such a pleasure, I can’t wait to see what the future holds as I continue my fellowship with them. I was able to be a part of the most unique experiences I’ve ever had with Legacies. I got to go to a Lao Heritage Camp and teach children about the work that’s being done in Southeast Asia. I got to meet with the Laos Ambassador Inphachanh to accept an award for Legacies of War and all the work they had been doing in Laos. I got to meet the Vietnam Ambassador Dzung to send condolences on the passing of the Former President of Vietnam, Nguyễn Phú Trọng. The people that I got meet were incredible; Anna Phommachanthone, Sera Koulabdara, Taryn Sebba, and Kendall Silwonuk are some of the most driven people I have ever met.

I had some hesitation working with both Halo Trust USA and Legacies of War at the same time, I didn’t want to mix up materials. However, this didn’t seem to be a problem at all even though they both worked with demining efforts. The big difference was the fact that Legacies of War didn’t accept government funding. I observed both the pros and cons of this method. The obvious con is that it meant less money. But the pros were a staple in Legacies of Wars mission. The idea of not censoring their mission and being able to educate people about the American Secret War. The American Secret War was a nine-year bombing campaign on Laos which resulted in Laos being the most heavily bombed nation, per capita in human history. I highly encourage any student to continue learning about The American Secret War.

I’m a homebody. I’m not a risk-taker. I don’t like trying new things. My experience in D.C. working with Legacies of War and Halo Trust fellow through the Human Rights Center will always be one that I hold close to my heart. I had never been far away from my family and friends before in a new environment, I was petrified. But the joy that I got from exploring a new state with a group of other human rights interns, I will always love all the new things I got to see and do (except the metro… I will always hate the metro). Most importantly, I will never forget the people that I got to meet from both organizations and the amount of knowledge they offered me in such a short amount of time.
 

Gabriela Garlo is a senior with a major in Communication and minors in Political Science, Human Rights Studies, English, and Pre-Law. She is the president of the Human Rights Advocacy Group, additionally, she interns at the UD Human Rights Center and is a part of Phi Alpha Delta. Gabriela has two fellowships that she’s doing this summer, Halo Trust and Legacies of War. After graduation, she plans on taking her experience to continue advocating for the Dayton community as a lawyer.