Guatemala Human Rights Internship

Apply for a Summer Internship

The Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA (GHRC) is will be seeking interns for May to August 2011. GHRC, founded in 1982, monitors, documents, and reports on the human rights situation in Guatemala, advocates for survivors of human rights abuses in Guatemala, and works toward positive, systemic change.

Role of Interns

Because the Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA is a small organization, interns are integral and involved in all aspects of our work. Depending on their interests, interns can hone their translating and editing skills working on our quarterly publication, gain experience planning and organizing events (such as fundraisers, speaking tours, or delegations to Guatemala), fine-tune their research skills assisting staff with affidavits for political asylum cases, and learn up-close how a nonprofit organization functions. Interns have an opportunity to work in all of the following areas:

Publications: Assisting in the translation, writing, editing, and publishing of GHRC reports.

Outreach: Maintaining and updating our media list, creatively forging links between our organization and others, and helping with congressional work, when applicable.

Development: Researching grant opportunities, preparing direct mail letters, organizing fundraisers, and acquiring basic database and website management skills.

Asylum documentation: GHRC works with a national network of attorneys on political asylum cases by providing legal research and expert testimony. Intern work may include researching particular subjects to support political asylum claims, organizing subject files, and compiling information to draft affidavits.

• All interns will have the opportunity to attend monthly coalition meetings, where upcoming legislative work and strategies are discussed, regarding US policy as it relates to Guatemala.

• Interns have the opportunity to attend congressional briefings and/or meetings with congressional staff. All interns will be able to participate in a thorough orientation session on legislative work.

• Interns also have the opportunity to meet prominent Guatemalan human rights defenders.

• All interns will also be able to research a topic of interest pertaining to the human rights situation in Guatemala, work with an editor, and submit articles for publication.

It is a policy of our office that we all share in communal administrative tasks. Those tasks include answering phones, data entry, photocopying, filing, mailings, processing orders, and dispatching information.

The intern and GHRC/USA staff will decide together on the intern’s particular focus, according to the person’s interests and previous experience. A minimum of twenty hours per week is preferable.

Though not a pre-requisite, the following background is strongly preferred:

• Demonstrated interest in Latin America/human rights issues
• Activism in human rights, peace, and justice causes
• Strong written and oral skills, both in English and Spanish (ability to translate is particularly useful)
• Good organizational skills
• Experience with Microsoft Word, Excel, and Publisher

HOW TO APPLY

Internships at GHRC/USA are unpaid positions. College credit for an internship can be arranged. Please send resume, cover letter (with the dates you are available), and brief writing sample in English and Spanish by email to Kelsey Alford-Jones at kajones@ghrc-usa.org, or by mail to:

Guatemala Human Rights Commission/USA
3321 12th St, NE Washington, DC 20017

Deadline for all applications is Friday, April 1, 2011.

Internship dates are somewhat flexible.