Tag Archives: Asia

Library exhibit: F.Y. Chang HLS Graduation Centennial 

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As part of its 50th anniversary celebrations this fall, East Asian Legal Studies has curated a library exhibit honoring the centennial of the HLS graduation of Fu-yun Chang (张福运) (1890-1983), a noted educator, diplomat, statesmen, and art collector.

According to the HLS Library website,

After graduating from Harvard College in 1914, [Chang] became the first Boxer Indemnity Scholar to graduate from Harvard Law School in 1917. He went on to become China’s first Director General of the National Customs Administration and led to the achievement of China’s tariff autonomy from foreign government control. The F.Y. Chang HLS Graduation Centennial Exhibit presents key moments from his life and work, offering a glimpse into a particular time in world history, the history of China and the United States, and of Harvard Law School. As the East Asian Legal Studies program celebrates its first five decades during the HLS Bicentennial year, this exhibit also serves as a reminder of the extraordinary contributions our alumni and scholars from East Asia and beyond have made to this institution and to the world.

The exhibit, in the Areeda Hall entrance to the library, will be on view through October.

Meet our incoming fall exchange students!

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exchange-fall-2017

This fall, nine students from law schools abroad are studying or conducting research at HLS. At the same time, 11 HLS students will spend the fall semester abroad, in Brazil, China, France, Japan, Mexico and Switzerland, either at our exchange partner schools or through an independent semester abroad, and this year two HLS students will enroll in the Harvard Law School and University of Cambridge J.D./LL.M. Joint Degree Program in the United Kingdom.

We hope you’ll have a chance to meet these visiting students.

Pictured above, left to right: FANG Longfei, Renmin University Law School, China; Luna Barroso, Fundação Getulio Vargas, Brazil; Thomas Romailler, University of Geneva Faculty of Law, Switzerland; Harum Mukhayer, University of Cambridge, United Kingdom; BAO Xiaoli, Renmin Law School, China; Joël Schwizgebel, University of Geneva Faculty of Law, Switzerland; Joel Phillips, Sydney Law School, Sydney, Australia; and Alice Dartevelle, Sciences Po Law School, Paris, France. (Not pictured: Tim Bowley, Sydney Law School, Sydney, Australia.)

Where can study abroad take you? Visit the Semester Abroad pages in the International Legal Studies section of the HLS website, and watch the HLS Calendar of Events and this blog for postings about information sessions scheduled in September and later in the year.

Chayes Fellow Michael Jung ’18 on working at UNICEF in Thailand

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Michael Jung '18 at UNICEF offices in Bangkok

Michael Jung ’18 at the UNICEF offices in Bangkok. All photos courtesy of Michael Jung.

Working at the UNICEF East Asia and Pacific Regional Office (EAPRO) in Bangkok has been a phenomenal learning experience. My work primarily deals with violence against children and justice for children in the 28 countries that are overseen by EAPRO.

I’ve been writing and conducting extensive legal research and legislative and policy analyses. It’s been fascinating to observe the incredibly diverse legal frameworks on children and juvenile justice, and particularly exciting to see the legislative reforms and initiatives in recent and upcoming months.

UNICEF EAPRO library

 

On top of the respectable mandate of UNICEF, every person in our office is inspirational, and my supervisor is simply fantastic with profound expertise and experience in this field. I already feel as though I have been with UNICEF for years.

Timor-Leste Embassy

I recently returned from a UNICEF mission to Timor-Leste that was aimed at better understanding the landscape of juvenile justice and better strategizing the efforts of UNICEF in the country. It was an extraordinary opportunity to visit a prison facility and engage with the incarcerated young persons, meet with the legal drafter of the forthcoming laws on children, and speak with various actors in the system including ministry officials, prosecutors, and legal aid organizations.

In Bangkok, I was able to visit a juvenile vocational training center for boys and assist with a juvenile justice meeting attended by representatives of the 10 ASEAN countries and other entities in the region. I also had the occasion of visiting the U.S. Embassy in Bangkok with my three HLS colleagues here and had some interesting discussions with two political officers, one dealing with human rights and another dealing with security, cybersecurity, and issues in the deep south of Thailand.

Bangkok night shot
Bangkok is a wonderful place to be, especially given the number of organizations and regional bodies in the city, and my collaboration with various individuals has led to some thrilling opportunities in the months to come. The weather is hot, but that is exactly the way I like it, and I love the district I live in (the older part of the city).

I couldn’t have asked for a better summer, and I look forward to seeing the types of work I will be conducting going forward!

Meet the 2016 Chayes Fellows

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Nineteen Harvard Law School students have been awarded 2016 Chayes International Public Service Fellowships. This summer the fellows will be working in Colombia, Chile, Costa Rica, Guam, Israel, Italy, Jordan, Mexico, Poland, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Thailand, and Ukraine, as well as San Francisco and Washington, D.C. Read the 2016 Chayes Fellows biographies.

Chayes Fellow Lauren Blodgett on working at End Child Prostitution, Child Pornography, and Trafficking of Children for Sexual Purposes in Thailand

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Elephants in Chiang Mai; Lauren Blodgett '16 at work; Erawan Falls. Photos courtesy of Lauren Blodgett.

Elephants in Chiang Mai; Lauren Blodgett ’16 at work; Erawan Falls. Photos courtesy of Lauren Blodgett.

I am really enjoying my experience in Thailand. For my internship at ECPAT, I am working on a project called Access to Justice for Child Victims of Sexual Exploitation. We are doing a multi-country comparative study to identify the barriers that child victims face regarding access to justice.

In particular, I am focusing on victims’ access to compensation, and I am researching the criminal, civil, and administrative avenues for compensation. I am writing about the theory behind compensation, and pulling best practices and lessons learned from the comparative study. From this research, we hope to provide our network members and other NGOs with a toolkit to help child victims in the aftermath of sexual exploitation. We also hope to use this study to inform international discussions on children’s rights and shape our advocacy efforts before the United Nations.