Summer placement programme at Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights

Law students are welcome to apply for a one-month unpaid summer internship in the legal department of the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights. Applications will be accepted until 4 May.

The programme’s duration is one month (July, August or September 2016, according to a trainee’s choice).

Interns will be working at the head office of the HFHR, ul. Zgoda 11, Warsaw, Poland.

As part of their summer placement, students will be given an opportunity to become involved in the following areas of the HFHR legal department’s practice:

• they will work with the initial case review team at HFHR and with the staff of other legal programmes (such as the Strategic Litigation Programme, Legal Intervention Programme, Observatory of the Freedom of Media in Poland, “Article 32” Programme);
• they will monitor court cases as HFHR observers;
• they will take part in training courses and seminars organised by the HFHR;
• they will attend meetings devoted to the major domestic and global human rights issues with renowned Polish human rights protection activists.

We have the pleasure of announcing that from this summer on, the students will have a chance to attend a series of training workshops, including a ten-hour workshop on drafting applications to the European Court of Human Rights. Training workshop will be conducted by prominent experts and all students who successfully complete the workshop will receive a certificate.

In the course of the internship, law students will work under the professional supervision of the HFHR legal department staff. Upon the end of the summer internship with the HFHR, students are granted credits which are required to complete the compulsory student placement.

Thanks to summer placement programme at the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights law students will be able to:

• help victims of human rights violations and learn about the content of human rights protection activities in Poland;
• get involved in landmark court and administrative cases;
• understand the way in which human rights transcend different areas of law;
• meet face-to-face some of the top human rights experts in Poland;
• obtain practical skills and knowledge that may prove useful in the practice of different legal professions or at work in public offices or law firms.

Applications with a CV and a brief description of a candidate’s reasons for taking on the placement should be sent to rekrutacja@hfhr.org.pl.

We will ask selected candidates to complete an assignment discussing a case study and later invite them to an interview.