Opportunities

The Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy was created as a result of the deep interest and long-standing work in human rights among our faculty, administrators and students. Among other things, this work takes the form of legal advocacy, activism, and scholarship on workers' rights, poverty, public health, migration, racial, gender, and sexual discrimination, disability rights, globalization, development, and the environment. 

The Program on Human Rights and the Global Economy provides many opportunities for faculty, law graduates and students to work on promoting and implementing human rights, particularly economic, social and cultural rights.

PHRGE Co-op Fellowships
PHRGE offers four fellowship co-ops each quarter at leading human rights organizations in the USA and overseas.  Fellows receive a stipend while working full time at these organizations over the three-month period.  Fellowships for the next quarter are at OXFAM-America, ACLU Georgia, Physicians for Human Rights, the National Law Center for Homelessness and Poverty, all in the USA, and Human Rights Law Network in India.

PHRGE Senior Fellows
From time to time PHRGE hosts Senior fellows working on major human rights projects.  During 2010-2012, Janine Moussa is a Senior Fellow with PHRGE. Ms. Moussa is the Co-Director of the Due Diligence Project, a two-year research and advocacy project on state obligations with respect to violence against women.

Affiliated Scholars
PHRGE also hosts several affiliated scholars who carry out various significant human rights projects or participate in PHRGE projects. In 2012 they are Zarizana Abdul Aziz, Co-Director of the Due Dilligence Project, Kyle Courtney, Head of External Resource Sharing and Faculty Research at Harvard Law School, and Maria Green, a human rights lawyer.

 

Post-JD Ford Foundation Fellowships
Each year, PHRGE appoints a Ford Foundation Fellow to support the general work of the program, including assisting in organizing the annual ESCR Institute, in researching and writing reports and articles on economic, social and cultural rights and in editing the SSRN ejournal "Human Rights and the Global Economy."  In 2010-2012, Mariah McGill and Angela Duger have been our Ford Foundation Fellows.

PHRGE Work Study
PHRGE has work-study positions available every quarter.  Work-study students are involved in all aspects of PHRGE work, including researching on economic and social rights for briefs and articles, organizing human rights events and programs, and assisting with our publicity and communications efforts.  If you are interested in a work-study position, please send a letter of interest and a resume to Gillian MacNaughton, Executive Director of PHRGE at g.macnaughton@neu.edu.

Northeastern University Co-op Students
PHRGE offers a wonderful opportunity for undergraduate students interested in human rights at Northeastern University through the co-op students. Undergraduate students work as PHRGE Program Coordinator. They will primarily assist with either the planning of the ESCR Institute or the Annual Report, but will work on other smaller PHRGE projects and events during there time here. In 2012, the co-op student is Nizhum Shaikh.

PHRGE Student Interns and Volunteers
PHRGE also has student interns and volunteers from Northeastern School of Law and from other Departments at the University.  Interns and volunteers carry out many day-to-day tasks of the program, help build our PHRGE network of scholars and practitioners in human rights, learn about cutting-edge human rights issues and meet scholars and practitioners working in human rights.

International and human-rights related co-ops
Northeastern students have worked with major human rights NGOs such as Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International, the Center for Constitutional Rights, and Liberty (UK) as well as local NGOs in Latin America and the Caribbean, southern Africa, Europe and south Asia. Northeastern law students have worked with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and other immigration and asylum organizations.

Global Law-Related Course Offerings
Northeastern University School of Law offers a wide range of global law courses, including international, foreign, comparative and immigration law.

Student Organizations
Human Rights Caucus
The Human Rights Caucus (HRC) was founded by Northeastern University School of Law students on December 10th, 2008, the 60th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The HRC serves as the hub for human rights issues not currently addressed by other student organizations, reinforces the ongoing work of existing student groups through the utilization of a legal human rights framework, and connects law students to individuals/groups conducting current human rights work. The mission of HRC is to connect NUSL students interested in human rights issues, to educate ourselves and others about domestic and international legal human rights frameworks, and to ensure that law students' exposure to human rights is not limited to academic discussions, but is practiced in our present internships and other social justice advocacy.

In addition to the Human Rights Caucus, there are several other student organizations that sponsor human rights-related events including:

• Asian Pacific American Law Students Association (APALSA)
• Black Law Students Association (BLSA)
• Human Rights Caucus
• International Law Society
• Jewish Law Students Association
• Latino/a Law Students Association (LaLSA)
• Northeastern United Radical Front
• National Lawyers Guild
• Student Global AIDS Campaign
• Women’s Law Caucus
• Iraqi Refugee Assistance Project