By CHRIS CRUCETTI
Contributing Writer
The College of Saint Rose hosted a panel Wednesday that discussed human rights’ employment opportunities. The panelists talked to students about various possible careers within the field. Job
opportunities involving human rights were the subject of discussion, while the speakers also incorporated their own experiences.
A crowd of roughly 65 people attended the event moderated by Saint Rose psychology professor Kathleen Crowley. The experts focused on four main goals: to reveal how the Peace Corp can lead to a career; to show the diversity of careers that can be pursued; to state that they are real careers to be pursued; and finally that Saint Rose prepares students for the careers.
“The College of Saint Rose students are prepared to take on the world, literally,” said Crowley.
The four-member panel discussed the diversity of opportunities within the field, and how prominent human rights issues are today. The panel included: Colleen Thapalia, a former Peace Corp volunteer and current director of international recruitment and admissions at Saint Rose; Dr. Michael Brannigan, who used his ethics and philosophy background to discuss the three main parts of human rights; Stephen Eisenbraun, the editor-in-chief of the state department’s annual country reports on human rights; and Josh Machleder, media outlet Internews’ vice-president for Europe and Eurasia programs for the Global Human Rights Project. The panel provided information to the spectators regarding how broad the field is, as well as how diverse the field can be.
“International careers are doable, which lead to a very important contribution—to improve lives around the world,” said Crowley.
Machleder discussed his time as a Peace Corp volunteer and shared what his company, Internews, is doing about human rights issues. Internews is a non-profit organization whose mission is to empower local media worldwide to give people the news and information they need. Machleder said that his time in the Peace Corp piqued his interest in human rights affairs. He was so interested, after his two-year term in the Peace Corp, he then traveled around the world for 15 years doing his own volunteer work.
“You really get to see the world, not as a tourist, but as a resident,” Machleder said.
Machleder discussed the challenges of living in another culture with different religious beliefs, customs, and attitudes while facing a language barrier. As a result, during his time in Uzbekistan, Machleder learned Uzbek and Russian to help break the barrier.
“Language is the basic essential you need for communication,” said Machleder.
Thapalia echoed Machleder’s thoughts when she spoke about her time in the Peace Corp, in the country of Burundi in central Africa. She worked in the parks and reserves. It was her job to allow people into the parks to obtain firewood and other supplies so they could function in their daily lives.
“The goal was not to keep people out, but to figure out what they need,” said Thapalia.
Brannigan approached the topic differently by discussing equality, equity, and the challenges he has seen people face. He examined the poor treatment of women in countries who are being stoned because of their co1212untries strict laws. He shared a case where a 13 year-old girl was raped and then stoned because she had sex outside of marriage. Brannigan also spoke about the poverty around the world, stating that over 10,000 people will die today in Africa because of malnutrition. “There is something terribly wrong when 300 of the richest people in the world have more money than the 2.5 million poorest,” said Brannigan.
Finally, Eisenbraun provided unique insights, as he detailed the reports he and his company create on an annual basis. His department creates the worldwide report about human rights and its violations throughout the year and is sent all over the world. Eisenbraun clearly stated the United States does not create the report based on our findings, rather they are compiled all over the world and the report then follows a rubric that is universally agreed upon. “The report is not from an American perspective,” said Eisenbraun.
Eisenbraun recalled a story where at separate conferences, representatives from Canada and Sweden came up to him and said that his report is used throughout their countries to determine asylum cases. He then realized how important his job was. People all over the world used his reports for cases concerning their own citizens. “We better get it right,” said Eisenbraun, referencing his reports.
