Your Career in Human Rights and the Humanitarian Sector
On Tuesday 28 January, the School of Law held its annual ‘Your Career in Human Rights and the Humanitarian Sector Event’ with four incredible panellists: Tahlia Dwyer, Jen Ang, Eilidh Dickson and Craig French. This event was organised by Lawyers Without Borders Student Division, with support from the School of Law Employability team and the GO Justice team.
Regarding the panellists: Tahlia Dwyer is a Legal Officer at UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, specializing in refugee protection and international law. Jen Ang is a Professor in Practice at the University of Glasgow School of Law and Founding Director of Lawmanity. She also co-founded JustRight Scotland. She is a qualified Solicitor with The Law Society of Scotland, The Law Society of England and Wales, and an Attorney-at-Law in New York. Eilidh Dickson, who works as the Policy and International Officer at the Scottish Human Rights Commission, and previously worked as Policy and Parliamentary Manager at Engender, focuses on gender equality and human rights. Craig French is a practicing solicitor with the Scottish Government in Edinburgh, and a Senior Tutor at the University of Glasgow. His current position is Head of the Equalities and Criminal Justice Division within the Scottish Government Legal Directorate.
During our panel event, Tahlia Dwyer mentioned her time working at the Australian Department of Immigration and Border Protection as a Legal Officer, and how it was challenging for her due to the actions and decisions of the government. Tahlia also talked about how this experience contributed to her decision to join the UN volunteering programme in the Refugee Agency. Professor Ang mentioned there will be different reasons for everyone to get into human rights, and how mostly there is one experience that makes you think you would not want anyone else to experience that, which brings you to human rights. She highlighted in a hopeful way that we will get there, even if it is many years later and maybe in a different country, but it will happen if we are passionate about it.
Eilidh Dickson talked about how at the time she was not sure what she wanted to do once she graduated, but she knew it would be something about NGOs, international organizations, and human rights. She discussed how all the experiences and skills come together eventually, and how important it is to get out, meet new people and talk to them. Craig French emphasised doing what interests you, and talked about how he was interested in public law, which was taught by Professor Jim Murdoch when he was doing his LLB at UofG. He also mentioned that sometimes the pathway and the opportunities are more logical, and sometimes it is just chance and perhaps some luck.
The first discussion we had was about the crucial skills and experiences needed for the sector. Tahlia brought up the importance of doing something you enjoy and contributing to something important. She also talked about how it is important to trust your instincts even when there are lots of questions and doubts. Jen mentioned transferrable skills and how commercial traineeships can also be valuable experiences. She emphasised the need for resilience and how working in human rights can feel like you are swimming against the tide. She highlighted that learning how to fail is key to being successful and, in this sector, you lose more than you win, therefore you need to know how to pick yourself up. Similarly, Eilidh discussed how her PR job taught her a lot and the transferrable skills she gained. She emphasised that the route is not always linear, and the legal and policy sector changes a lot. Craig underlined the importance of being open-minded about what is right and the significance of holding onto your common sense. He mentioned not to be put off by small wins and not to forget about the overall goal.
Secondly, we talked about overcoming the struggles of working in an NGO or international organisation in terms of competitiveness of applications, lack of paid opportunities and need for connections with people in the industry. Tahlia mentioned the importance of building skills before thinking about big organisations such as the UN. She talked about how her experiences in interviewing refugees back in Australia ended up being more useful than her legal experience for her job in the UN. Tahlia also touched upon the willingness to take some risks and moving out of your comfort zone. Lastly, she spoke about the advantages of having work experience/doing internships in small legal clinics or organisations as you get to do many different things, whereas in large organisations it is less likely that you will be given many responsibilities as an intern.
Next, we discussed how to maintain your mental and emotional well-being while working in such a demanding and often distressing field. Jen mentioned how it can sometimes feel very oppressive, but it is important to remind yourself that if you do have agency to make small changes, you can gradually change the status quo. She talked about finding a way to balance the work and your own well-being; this can be done via hobbies or finding a role that suits you best. Jen also highlighted that some people cannot find that way to balance, however, it is important to remember you do not need to be in the frontline. There are many people working behind the scenes and supporting the frontline with their work, reminding us that we can choose the best job that works for our own well-being. Following this discussion, Eilidh commented on how important it is to celebrate the small wins. She spoke about how the reality is that the system is very resistant to change, and it is hard, and takes time. Therefore, you need to know how to pick yourself up and know that you are doing the right thing.
Lastly, we moved on to individual questions from the audience. In this part, Craig mentioned the dynamic work life he has as a government solicitor. He added how it is different from being a corporate lawyer in terms of the client relationship. Eilidh said being a lawyer and doing policy work are much more similar than we might think. She talked about how the public sector is slower to react and has much less agency compared to the third sector. Jen discussed founding her own organisations and how it was important to demonstrate her own abilities instead of waiting for someone else to take the lead. She also highlighted not being afraid of trying and failing. Tahlia expressed the importance of the professional relationship and engaging conversations you can have with your colleagues. She also discussed working in the UNHCR and the challenges in terms of political dynamics. She said it can be a very sensitive balance, often involving work behind the scenes, and not always talking out publicly.
To conclude, it was an inspirational event where we had the opportunity to hear from four incredible panellists in various areas of the human rights sector, doing different kinds of work. I believe we all learned how important it is to try and fail, learn to pick ourselves up, celebrate the small wins, not be put off by the ‘losses’, and to take care of our well-being. As Jen said, we just need to find our way and I think this event was an excellent demonstration how these successful people from different backgrounds found their way in the sector and managed to achieve their dreams - definitely a hopeful note to end on for all of us who aspire to work in this sector one day.
~ Beste Yasav (International Law LLM student)
