Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
“The LLM gave me a broader, contextual understanding of the relationship between public policy, development, and international human rights norms – something I found particularly relevant as I grew up in The Gambia. The course has immensely enhanced my theoretical understanding of international human rights law and, more importantly, how to apply that law as an advocacy instrument in practical situations. For example, my two-week placement with a local NGO in Malaysia led to a 30-page report outlining key recommendations on electoral reform.”
Abdoulie Fatty, LLM Student 2011/12
LLM students in Malaysia
Kuala Lumpur City Centre, Malaysia
Placements
A key part of the LLM is exposing students to the practice of international human rights law at the domestic level. Central to this object is the opportunity students have to pursue a placement and related project with our NGO partners in Malaysia and York.
Malaysia placements
The Malaysia placement centers around work on a project with an NGO partner during a two week field visit to Kuala Lumpur. Malaysia was chosen for several reasons. Firstly, Malaysia is going through a democratizing transition and has a vibrant and expanding civil society. It also has one of the largest refugee populations in South East Asia. Secondly, Malaysia has a legally pluralistic system with common law, Shari’a law, and customary law. Thirdly, Malaysia presents a challenging place for human rights work because it has signed relatively few international human rights treaties and because Asia lacks a regional human rights treaty (although tentative progress is being made by ASEAN to remedy this deficit).
Students, in small groups, will be expected to work in partnership with a human rights organisation, and include:
- extensive background research on country context, the host organisation, relevant thematic issues etc.;
- devising a project prior to the field visit, in collaboration with the host organisation;
- two weeks of intensive work in Malaysia in November and December; and,
- ongoing discussions about project completion once students return to York.
In the past, we have partnered with various human rights organisations taking up a number of different human rights issues and having different organizational histories and cultures. Recent partners have included the Women’s Aid Organisation (the largest women’s rights organization in Malaysia); Tenaganita (a migrant rights organization); the Coalition Against Modern Slavery in Asia (a regional NGO fighting human trafficking in Asia); Pusat Kebajkan Good Shepherd (a religious charity providing training and refuge to marginalized populations); and the Bersih Coalition (a popular movement seeking electoral reform in Malaysia).
Our projects with these organisations have sought to respond to the particular needs of each organization (including their staff and their service users). Recent projects have included devising a litigation strategy for women’s rights NGOs in Malaysia; evaluating the mentorship programme of a refugee befriending organization; developing a strategy and supporting materials for local government to combat human trafficking; drafting submissions about the treatment of domestic workers to the UN Committee for the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women; and, drafting submissions to a Select Committee of the Malaysian Parliament.
Students will need to budget approximately £1200 for the field visit over and above fees and living expenses for the LLM. Expenses for the field trip include round-trip airfare to Malaysia (approx. £550), accommodation in Malaysia (approx. £300), and, local transportation and food (approx. £300).
"The field trip to Malaysia was one of the main attractions to study the LLM course at York. I chose to work with an NGO focused on refugee issues and my task involved working with a small team to produce an evaluation report of the organisation's activities. It was an exciting opportunity to put theory into practice and it has definitely been instrumental in waking me up to the realities of human rights work. The defining moment for me came about in the course of conducting interviews and having informal conversations with the refugees. It was an eye opening and humbling experience to hear their stories and genuinely form friendships with them''.
Toluwanimi Jaiyebo, LLM 2011-2012
"The students from York brought passion, a diverse range of experiences, and a real focus on the application of human rights principles to the problem of human trafficking. The group that worked with us produced an excellent framework on how local councils can work within the national framework to combat human trafficking in a situation where the Federal Government is vested with enforcement powers and where the Malaysian Anti-Trafficking in Persons law is a Federal Government driven initiative. The group very clearly articulated the importance of the local council in public awareness, training for local licensing law enforcement and also their collaboration with federal law enforcement. Until now, their policy suggestions remain a key document in the formulation of local state and council strategies and in our advocacy with the Federal Government. Besides work, we had a great deal of fun not only in Malaysia but in our continual discussions through emails and Skype discussions."
Daniel Lo, Country Manager (Malaysia), Coalition to Abolish Modern-day Slavery in Asia
York placements
Students who decide to stay in the UK (because of visa, family, financial, or other reasons) will have the opportunity to do placements with locally based organisations, with international NGOs based in the UK, and with the Centre’s visiting human rights defenders. Recently, project partners have included Refugee Action York (a local refugee rights organisation), the coalition promoting York as a Human Rights City, the Kurdish Human Rights Project (now the Democratic Progress Institute), the Russian Committee Against Torture, and the Assistance Association of Political Prisoners of Burma. As with the Malaysia placements, local projects seek to respond to the particular needs of the partner organisations. Past projects have included a mapping of local NGOs' work on human rights issues, the development of public education material in support of York becoming a “City of Sanctuary” for refugees, and, the drafting of a handbook for the families of political prisoners in Burma outlining the minimum standards of care owed to prisoners in Burmese jails.
"When I was selected for the Chevening scholarship, I looked for a course which would best help me in my profession as a judge in Bangladesh. I was drawn to this LLM because of its practice-oriented and inspirational design. For my two-week placement, I worked with a former political prisoner from Burma helping his NGO develop a guide on prisoners’ rights to help build awareness among prisoners and prison officials. The knowledge and skills that I learnt on that project and in the LLM as a whole have given me a newfound confidence that will help me discharge my duties as a judge."
Anis Rahman, LLM Student 2011/12
“A particular highlight of the LLM was the opportunity to work with Dmitry Utukin, a Russian human rights defender, to develop a training manual on the European Court of Human Rights for Russian lawyers. This experience gave me an insight into real life human rights work beyond my experience in refugee issues, and was a unique opportunity to learn from and get to know an experienced defender.”
Michaela Throup, LLM Student 2011/12