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The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) April 21, 2011

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Human Rights, international development , 1 comment so far

I met up with Liz Harris who is  a War Studies Masters student  at King’s College and also works for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC). I first came across ICRC when I worked for SOAS. They were regular visitors there, recruiting students with the demanding combination of skills they need for operatives in their field operations.  Here is what she told me.

“One of the ICRC’s tasks – as laid out in the Geneva Conventions – is to visit persons detained in situations of armed conflict. These could be prisoners of war, insurgents or civilians accused of taking part in hostilities. Our role is to inspect and monitor the conditions of detention and treatment of the detainees, to see that they are in line with international humanitarian law, the law of armed conflict.

“Due to the ICRC’s strict adherence to neutrality, the organisation does not take local people into prisons as a matter of policy. Generally speaking, members of detention teams should also not originate from the countries they are sent to work in – or even from neighbouring countries, although this is decided on a case by case basis and is dependent on regional political dynamics. This means the ICRC has a constant need of expatriate interpreters with the right profile and nationality, that can speak the relevant languages.

“It’s not a traditional interpreting role, though, as they are often expected to work alone during detention visits as well as having to interpret for ICRC delegates.” says Liz. “Therefore, while language skills are essential, so are other qualities such as being able to inspire the trust of detainees in what can be very tense situations. ‘Interpreters’ should also be prepared to take notes and to help with compiling reports, if asked. Our knowledge of the countries and regions that we work in means that we are often asked to advise other expatriate staff on various cultural issues.

“It is a challenging job, there is no doubt about that. You might be working in a dangerous place, dealing with people in crisis. But it can also be immensely rewarding and utterly fascinating, particularly as the ICRC has privileged access to places and people beyond the reach of other organisations.”

I asked Liz what she looks for when recruiting

Working in Human Rights May 5, 2010

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Human Rights, international development , add a comment

Someone posted a question on our getting into international development Facebook site about working in Human Rights and international development. The bottom line was ‘is it better to do a law conversion course or an international relations masters with a human rights emphasis?’

Guess what? No straightforward answer to this. Lots of people working in the field of human rights don’t need a legal background. A seminar we put on at SOAS a little while ago had speakers from Human Rights organisations who were taking on many different roles. For example policy, research, education, campaigning and grantmaking and fundraising. A masters with elements of development, human rights or law together with the usual practical experience of volunteering and internships could provide an entry point for careers in this area. On the other hand lots of organisations working in the field of human rights do employ people who are either qualified lawyers or who have something like a masters in law – an LLM. For example the staff list of Article 19, a humans rights organisation that was recently advertising for an intern shows staff comprising around 50:50 law and non-law. Many, though not all, staff who weren’t professional lawyers had some kind of postgraduate law qualification (www.article19.org/about/staff.html ) Of course a significant number of law professionals work in human rights with law firms working for legal aid firms with a reputation for human rights work. At the SOAS event we heard from a lawyer who works for Pierce Glynn on issues such as asylum, housing and refugee status. For example helping to secure the right to stay for the Afghanis who forced their plane to land in Britain a few years ago. Other lawyers work for higher profile firms such as Bindmans who have a reputation in the field. They have been involved in the case against Pinochet and, less fashionably, the appeal of Peter Sutcliffe against his indefinite detention in Broadmoor.

Useful links

Careerstagged.co.uk – a new search engine. Search for human rights and then add other tags eg international development

Overview by colleagues at University of Kent – www.kent.ac.uk/careers/workin/humanrights.htm

Section on human rights and international development – including podcasts http://www.careers.lon.ac.uk/output/Page651.asp

Business and Human Rights January 26, 2009

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Human Rights, internships, skills , add a comment

The most popular blog on this site is a piece I wrote about analytical skills.  I talked about how an understanding of what employers means by certain skills and why they are asking for them will make applicants much better candidates.  A current research volunteer advert from  the Business and Human Rights Centre (BHRRC) reminded me of another case study I wrote last year which talks more about what employers means by this and other skills

I spoke to Joe Westby from BHRRC about why they were asking for certain things and what they meant by things such as research skills and ‘self initiative’.

‘Research and analytical skills’ have very particular meanings for BHRRC in terms of the opportunity on offer. By ‘research’ they are looking for those who are aware of the different sources of information concerning business and human rights.  By analytical skills they mean the ability to understand which articles and reports from the range of material available and make good judgments about what category to tag the information with.

Data input capacity – while this is a fairly straightforward skill and the job specification tells you most of what you need to know it became clear from talking to BHRRC that those who could be enthusiastic about data input (because it involve reading a lot about topics of interest for example) would be stronger candidates.

Initiative – typically this means that it’s a small organisation and they won’t have a sophisticated support mechanism. In this case, however, it also refers to the fact that the connections between business and human rights are not wholly understood. It is a developing area of research and initiative is required because there aren’t many widely accepted templates to work from.

Team Skills – It is possible to bring a too sophisticated understanding of the relevance of something like team skills to an application or interview. It is true that many employers may want you to demonstrate a subtle interpretation of what you feel team work is about. In this case though it just means that they are looking for people who will get stuck in and help out with whatever needs doing.

Impartiality and Balance – this is an unusual criterion in a job specification but it does point up an important feature of job adverts. Even when you understand clearly the skill they are looking for it can really help your case if you can demonstrate an understanding of why they are looking for it.  The job spec explains clearly that you need to be able to present information objectively. Most candidates who have written academic essays would be able to claim an impartiality in their approach what is really important about this criterion for the employer is that they aren’t just looking for someone who wants to collect bad stories about nasty old employers abusing human rights. It is key to understanding that they are trying to establish a reputation on objectivity. Someone who understands and articulates that, and the other skills discussed, will be a brilliant candidate.

You can find our more about the vacancy by visiting the JobOnline vacancy service (deadline 5th February). Read the case study in full at careers.lon.ac.uk> employers > a-z > Business & Human Rights Resource Centre

Peacebuilding October 31, 2008

Posted by Jeff Riley in : Human Rights , add a comment

A couple of events you may be interested in

1) Our friends at Peace Brigades International have their AGM on 26th November. Hear from human rights lawyers from Colombia and Nepal who PBI have been working closely with as they help defend thier communities. The event runs from 7.30 in London. Details on our third sector facebook page at

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Kings-Career-Networks-Third-Sector/30220296002

2)  Aiding the world’s poor. There is an open lecture at King’s College London (where I work). This will take place at 5pm on November 19th. The speaker is Roger Riddell, author, former international director of Christian Aid and Research Fellow of the ODI. Details on our facebook page as above.

Finally, we have now posted up our visit report from International Alert. One thing the report didn’t mention is a ‘Peaceworkers self test’. You answer a few simple online questions and it tells you where you are with potential careers in the sector and recommends suitable courses. It was very encouraging because even though I was clearly unsuitable in every respect – ie no experience, no qualifications I was still at ‘level 1′. Which was a nice way of saying I wouldn’t get a job until I had got some more relevant credentials. You can read our report on the employers sections of careers.lon.ac.uk/development and do the self test at http://www.peaceworkers.org.uk/