| | |
|
| |
|
|
2009-2010 Fellowships in International Human Rights KEY SECTIONS: General Questions and Requests | Questions About How to Apply | Inquiries About the Status of Your Application 1. General Questions and Requests Four fellowships are offered for 2009-2010:
Please note that the Bernstein Fellowship is directly administered by Yale Law School. For information on applying for this fellowship, click here. No. Just e-mail all six pieces of your application (cover letter, resume, two letters of recommendation, an unedited writing sample, and an official transcript). Please send all materials in one e-mail and as PDF files. Yes. The fellowships are open to everyone who meets the other criteria (see next query), regardless of nationality or immigration status. Human Rights Watch will assist prospective fellows in obtaining the necessary U.S. or U.K. work authorization; citizens of all nationalities are encouraged to apply. For the Sandler, and NYU Fellowships, prospective fellows must be recent law graduates (LL.M.s are not eligible). For the Aryeh Neier Fellowship, applicants should be recent law school graduates or should graduate by June 2009. For the Finberg Fellowship, applicants must be graduates of law, journalism, international relations or other relevant studies (at the Master's level – LL.M.s are also eligible) who would have graduated by no later than August 2009. Other relevant disciplines may also be considered. The fellowships are intended for human rights activists in the early stages of their careers. As a general rule of thumb, the committee considers those who have received their graduate degrees within the past three years to be recent graduates. For this cycle, we will consider Finberg Fellowship applicants with degrees received after January 2006 and before August 2009 as “recent graduates”. For the Aryeh Neier fellowship, applicants should be recent law school graduates or should graduate by June 2009. For the Sandler and NYU Fellowships, preference will be given to 2009 graduates or recent graduates who are completing a judicial clerkship. The Sandler fellowship at Columbia, the NYU School of Law Fellowship at HRW, and the Aryeh Neier Fellowship are restricted to J.D. graduates; LL.M.s are unfortunately not eligible. However, LL.M.s are strongly encouraged to apply for the Finberg (unrestricted) Fellowship. Applicants must have exceptional analytic skills, an ability to write and speak clearly in English, and a commitment to work in the human rights field in the future on a paid or volunteer basis. Proficiency in one language in addition to English is strongly preferred. Familiarity with countries or regions where serious human rights violations occur is also highly valued. For the Aryeh Neier Fellowship, applicants must have exceptional analytical skills, an ability to write and speak clearly and forcefully, and a commitment to human rights and justice. They should have academic or work experience related to some aspect of the protection of human rights and civil liberties in the United States. Proficiency in one language in addition to English is recommended but not required. Applicants should be dynamic, self-motivated, able to work independently as well as part of a team, and have proven initiative and follow through. In the event that you are offered an interview, Human Rights Watch will make the necessary arrangements to interview you; this is not something you need to concern yourself with at this stage of the process. After Fellows are chosen, the organization decides whether to place them in New York, Washington, D.C., or London. (Some of Human Rights Watch's divisions are based in New York, some in Washington, D.C., and some in London; placement depends on which department a Fellow is assigned to.) When applying for the Fellowship, an applicant should be prepared to live in New York City, Washington, D.C., or London. Yes. Human Rights Watch will assist with and pay for obtaining work authorization. If an employee is asked to relocate by the organization, Human Rights Watch may pay certain relocation expenses in particular cases, upon prior approval of the Human Resources Director:
The Fellowship Committee is unable to respond to individual requests for information. Last year, we received over 500 applications. Out of these, we were able to interview only 22 candidates, for four Fellowship positions. We expect a similar number of applicants and interviewees this year. There are many employment opportunities opening up at HRW; Fellows are welcome to apply, and some do go on to long-term employment with HRW. However, there is no guarantee. Aryeh Neier fellows will, at the end of their year at HRW, begin the second phase of their fellowship at the ACLU. You can send inquiries by email for the Finberg, Sandler, NYU, and Aryeh Neier Fellowships to fellowship@hrw.org. 2. Questions About How to Apply All applications for the Finberg, Sandler, NYU and Aryeh Neier fellowships must be received by October 3, 2008. Please see our Fellowship Application Checklist for more information on specific expectations and suggestions on the different parts of the application. Your application should describe your areas of experience, expertise, and interest. Human Rights Watch will assign you to a regional or thematic division based on institutional needs and the strengths of your application. No. The entire application, including recommendations and transcripts, should be submitted by e-mail. If there are truly extenuating circumstances, an application may be sent by fax, but you must discuss this with us beforehand. Without prior written approval, Human Right Watch will accept no application materials sent in this manner. Yes. Please send all materials, as PDF files, under one cover. Because of the volume of applications received, it is not possible for us to process incomplete applications. If your files are too large to attach to a single e-mail message, please consider compressing the files before sending them. By "unpublished," we simply mean that no one other than you may have edited your writing sample. You may submit any document which has been edited only by you. If you wish to submit a document which has been published, for example in a law review or magazine, you must submit your original version, i.e. the article as it was before anyone else edited it. A master's thesis is acceptable, as long as it was not edited by your professor or anyone else. No. You should submit a piece of writing which you feel reflects your commitment and experience in the field of human rights. Whether or not it contains citations, footnotes, etc, is up to you. This is up to you. Your recommendations should come from any individual who can testify as to your qualifications for the Fellowships. Yes. If the transcript is not in English, the Fellowship Committee may not be able to read it. Proficiency in English is required for the fellowships, so candidates should be able to do this translation themselves. If the transcript is translated by anyone other than the school that issued it, however, the original must be included with your application. Undergraduate transcripts are not required, unless you fall in the categories listed in the Transcript section of our Fellowship Application Checklist. 3. Inquiries About the Status of Your Application An official notice will be sent once we have received and processed your application. This may take up to a few weeks, due to the volume of applications received. Interviews will be held in early November to mid-December for the Finberg, Sandler, NYU and Aryeh Neier Fellowships, and final decisions will be announced in early 2009. Please note that short-listed candidates will be contacted directly by phone or e-mail. We will do our best to inform all other applicants of the status of their applications as quickly as possible; however, due to the number of applications we receive, this might take some time. No. Applications received after the respective deadline, will not be considered. Applications, including recommendations and transcripts must be sent under a single cover, and not in separate parts. Due to the large volume of applications received we are unable to check individual files. Once we have received your application, we will send you an email notifying you of the status of your application file. |
Fellowship Information
About Human Rights Watch |
|
Contribute to Human Rights Watch
Home | About Us | News Releases | Publications | About HRW | Info by Country | Global Issues | Campaigns | Free
Mailing Lists | Community | Store | Film Festival | Site Map |Search |Contact Us | Press Contacts | Privacy Policy | RSS Feeds |