Foundation Supports Development of Alternative Lawyers

For the past three years, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation (FNF) has supported the Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC) in offering law students an alternative break through its summer internship program. This program exposes students to different sectors which are vulnerable to human rights abuses in the Philippines. These sectors include: indigenous people, women and children, laborers, farmers, environmentalists and inmates. The AHRC internship program aims to concretize justice and develop alternative lawyers to serve in the most needed sectors of the country.

Ten students from Ateneo Law School, Western Mindanao State University and De La Salle-Bacolod School of Law started off this year’s program by completing the Basic Orientation Seminar (BOS) from 12 – 15 April 2007 at Gem’s Hotel, Antipolo City.

The BOS introduces students to human rights laws and issues. It also equips them with necessary advocacy skills for their internship. “The BOS is important as it is a law student’s first introduction to the concept of alternative lawyering,” said AHRC Internship Director Lovely-Anne Carlos. “It is during the BOS when the student is made aware of these vulnerable sectors -- sectors where oppression and ignorance of the law prevail, and where human rights are never heard of.”

The orientation workshop is then followed by a week-long immersion where the law students will live with indigenous people as the beginning of their exposure. “It’s one thing to know, but it is another thing to be exposed,” said BOS facilitator Marge Gutierrez.

The internship proper begins at the end of the immersion. The internship director will decide which sectors the students are most suitable for, based on their preferences, strengths and skills. In their host agency assignments, the interns will engage in legal research, field investigation, client interviews, training seminars and litigation work.

“Sharing the lives of the poor, even for a short period of time, can be a transforming experience, said FNF Resident Representative Siegfried Herzog. “This is especially important for people who will one day occupy positions of leadership in the country, be it in politics, business or civil society, as many of the students of the participating schools eventually will,” he added. “The students should strive to gain an analytical understanding of the structural factors that create life-threatening risks for the poor and that keep the poor from participating fully in the economy and the society.”