This summer, fourth-year Law, Letters, and Society major Sarah Ginsburg jumped headfirst into the world of global human rights practice, conducting research on human rights law that will be featured in future United Nations reports.
With the support of a $5,000 grant from the Pozen Center’s Human Rights Internship Program, Ginsburg worked as a researcher at the UChicago Law School’s Global Human Rights Clinic (GHRC), which collaborates frequently with the United Nations and other global partners. Her research topics included police violence directed toward people on the basis of gender and sexual orientation. She also wrote a report on the concept of national self-determination, cataloging its appearances in existing human rights law and discourse.
For Ginsburg, the internship was an appealing opportunity to explore possible career options in the human rights space. She has long been interested in law school, but was hungry for more practical knowledge about the career opportunities available to lawyers. During the summer before her internship, she worked at a litigation-focused law firm. Going into the internship, she knew she wanted to try something different: to explore the world of legal research, learn more about international law, and hopefully put her Spanish-language skills to use.
The support of the Pozen Center and the GHRC made it all possible. The GHRC runs multiple issue-based clinics and working groups on human rights topics around the world. This made it possible for them to place Ginsburg on projects that catered to Ginsburg’s skills and interests. Ginsburg was assigned to pore over information on police violence – including materials written in Spanish – on police violence in Venezuela and Columbia.
As she worked to synthesize her findings, Ginsburg met regularly with Anjli Parrin, head of the GHRC (and a member of the Pozen Center's faculty board), to discuss revisions and possible directions for further research. She also discussed her work with fellow GHRC student researchers, including Law School students and undergraduates with a wide range of interest and experience. When a collaborator from the United Nations was visiting, he met with Ginsburg to discuss her research and his career in international law.
“The beauty of this sort of grant is that it makes human rights work accessible in an undergraduate setting,” Ginsburg says. At other universities, undergrads with an interest in human rights can struggle to find summer opportunities with financial support. Being able to explore human rights work without worrying about funding was, in Ginsburg's words, “extremely freeing, and allowed me to learn more about what kind of roles I’m truly interested in.”
Ginsburg also appreciated the support she received from the Pozen Center in the year leading up to the internship. Pozen Center staff helped her select an internship, prepare for her role, and integrate it into her course of study. “I will definitely continue to take advantage of Pozen Center resources and staff in the future," she says.
- Applications for the Summer ‘25 Human Rights Internship cohort are due October 27th. To learn more, register for a Zoom info session on Wednesday, October 16th, read our profiles of past interns, or read about last fall’s internship symposium, where interns reported back on what they’d learned.