Annual Report 2007 - Passion for
Passion for Human Rights Leads to the Hague
From Storrs to the center of international justice, alumna Julie Friedlander ’07 has turned a lifelong interest in human rights into “the opportunity of a lifetime,” with a prestigious privately funded scholarship to work at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
After graduating in May with a political science major and human rights minor, Friedlander spent six months with the tribunal, an opportunity made possible by a scholarship funded by Richard Goldstone, former chief justice of the Supreme Court of South Africa and a member of the Board of Overseers at UConn’s interdisciplinary Human Rights Institute. Friedlander was the first recipient of the Goldstone scholarship.
“It’s incredible to be in such an exciting place with people from all over the world,” she says. “The opportunity to see what goes on at the tribunal and what impact it will have upon history is extraordinary.”
Richard Wilson, the Judi and Gary Gladstein Distinguished Chair in Human Rights and director of the Human Rights Institute, says Friedlander “is one of the many talented students pursuing a human rights minor at the University. It’s an exciting illustration of what students can do.”
While she entered UConn unaware of the University’s human rights program, Friedlander quickly became involved in both the academic offerings and the student organizations dedicated to social justice and human rights. A study abroad Semester at Sea in 2005 brought her to Latin America, Africa and Asia, and was influential in further developing her interest in human rights.
She served as president of the UConn chapter of Amnesty International and worked with Amii Omara-Otunnu, UNESCO Chair of Comparative Human Rights, as a student ambassador for human rights. She has researched war crimes in Chechnya, developed and implemented education lesson plans on human rights, and taught classes at UConn on topics including international law, women and the United Nations, and human rights. To support her interest in public service, Friedlander also received the Augusta H. Gerberich Scholarship for juniors or seniors pursuing a career in international relations.
Friedlander believes the evolution of human rights as a University focus has grown dramatically since she started.
“The increase in human rights minors and the number of people on campus who have an understanding of human rights, have heard about the program or are excited to get involved is meaningful,” she says. “The faculty provided many ways to further my studies and opportunities to get involved outside of the classroom.”
