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| Secret aid worker: some human rights lawyers are in it for vanity, not victims | |
| (35 minutes later) | |
| I was a human rights advocate for several years before becoming a lawyer. When I fell in love with human rights work, it wasn’t because of international law – it was because of on-the-ground civil society collaborations and fact-finding investigations early in my career. Working abroad, I became sensitised to the importance of listening to and managing expectations when speaking with victims of human rights violations. I gave back as much as I could by bringing my knowledge of international law and human rights practice to the table and helping colleagues grow as advocates. As a result, I fostered strong relationships with a vibrant community of human rights workers from all over the world. | I was a human rights advocate for several years before becoming a lawyer. When I fell in love with human rights work, it wasn’t because of international law – it was because of on-the-ground civil society collaborations and fact-finding investigations early in my career. Working abroad, I became sensitised to the importance of listening to and managing expectations when speaking with victims of human rights violations. I gave back as much as I could by bringing my knowledge of international law and human rights practice to the table and helping colleagues grow as advocates. As a result, I fostered strong relationships with a vibrant community of human rights workers from all over the world. |
| After several years of moving between multiple continents to finish law school and get practical experience, I decided to settle and landed a legal researcher job at an NGO. I wasn’t excited about doing desk research day in and day out, but the NGO’s mission seemed important and interesting. Unfortunately, nothing could prepare me for the ignorance I was about to experience. | After several years of moving between multiple continents to finish law school and get practical experience, I decided to settle and landed a legal researcher job at an NGO. I wasn’t excited about doing desk research day in and day out, but the NGO’s mission seemed important and interesting. Unfortunately, nothing could prepare me for the ignorance I was about to experience. |
| I’m ashamed that there are human rights lawyers who think their law degrees alone qualify them to speak for victims | I’m ashamed that there are human rights lawyers who think their law degrees alone qualify them to speak for victims |
| At this NGO, my colleagues were lawyers who wanted to speak for victims without understanding how to first listen and speak to victims. This was exacerbated both by their collective lack of experience working in situations rife with human rights violations and by the NGO’s institutional disinterest – even disdain – of people who focused on abuses outside its thematic and regional focus. | At this NGO, my colleagues were lawyers who wanted to speak for victims without understanding how to first listen and speak to victims. This was exacerbated both by their collective lack of experience working in situations rife with human rights violations and by the NGO’s institutional disinterest – even disdain – of people who focused on abuses outside its thematic and regional focus. |
| All of this contributed to the office’s low levels of sophistication in understanding human rights. For example, upon learning that a foundation had programmes to rescue scholars (not genocide victims), a colleague ridiculed the concept, equating the persecution of academics to people getting their dissertations rejected. Additionally, they didn’t seem to understand that it could characterise the start of a genocide; that scholars can also be genocide victims. | All of this contributed to the office’s low levels of sophistication in understanding human rights. For example, upon learning that a foundation had programmes to rescue scholars (not genocide victims), a colleague ridiculed the concept, equating the persecution of academics to people getting their dissertations rejected. Additionally, they didn’t seem to understand that it could characterise the start of a genocide; that scholars can also be genocide victims. |
| On a more personal level, I had shared with colleagues that my parents were persecuted out of a war-torn country. Yet I was shocked by senior colleagues’ lack of basic sympathy to the plight of my ethnic group. Where’s the compassion? The NGO doesn’t focus on that part of the world, which means it considers those victims less worthy of its time. | On a more personal level, I had shared with colleagues that my parents were persecuted out of a war-torn country. Yet I was shocked by senior colleagues’ lack of basic sympathy to the plight of my ethnic group. Where’s the compassion? The NGO doesn’t focus on that part of the world, which means it considers those victims less worthy of its time. |
| I quickly realised that my boss, a strong supporter of the death penalty and military intervention, is a human rights advocate only when it suits – and only regarding certain rights, sometimes on a whim. Under my boss’ direction, developing strategies to maximise practical impacts on the ground took a second seat to developing novel strategies just to say “we did it first”. The amount of time wasted as a result is staggering. | I quickly realised that my boss, a strong supporter of the death penalty and military intervention, is a human rights advocate only when it suits – and only regarding certain rights, sometimes on a whim. Under my boss’ direction, developing strategies to maximise practical impacts on the ground took a second seat to developing novel strategies just to say “we did it first”. The amount of time wasted as a result is staggering. |
| How important are the victims for whom the NGO purports to speak? I don’t know. I’m sure, however, that even the organisation’s most meaningful work is at least partly driven by the self-promotional desires of a vanity NGO and its leadership. | How important are the victims for whom the NGO purports to speak? I don’t know. I’m sure, however, that even the organisation’s most meaningful work is at least partly driven by the self-promotional desires of a vanity NGO and its leadership. |
| I’m embarrassed to have been part of this NGO to the point where my family still doesn’t know its name. I’m ashamed that there are human rights lawyers who think their law degrees alone qualify them to speak for victims, despite lacking the expertise in the issues affecting the victims for whom they are speaking. I hope the lawyers at this NGO are an exception to the rule, but I’m really afraid that this type of attitude could be alive and well in broader NGO culture. | I’m embarrassed to have been part of this NGO to the point where my family still doesn’t know its name. I’m ashamed that there are human rights lawyers who think their law degrees alone qualify them to speak for victims, despite lacking the expertise in the issues affecting the victims for whom they are speaking. I hope the lawyers at this NGO are an exception to the rule, but I’m really afraid that this type of attitude could be alive and well in broader NGO culture. |
| Do you have a secret aid worker story you’d like to tell? You can contact us confidentially at globaldevpros@theguardian.com – please put “Secret aid worker” in the subject line. If you’d like to encrypt your email to us, here are instructions on how to set up a PGP mail client and our public PGP key. | Do you have a secret aid worker story you’d like to tell? You can contact us confidentially at globaldevpros@theguardian.com – please put “Secret aid worker” in the subject line. If you’d like to encrypt your email to us, here are instructions on how to set up a PGP mail client and our public PGP key. |
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