SSIS Alumni Profile
Division of Peace Studies
RineetaNaik (MA 2000)
Six years after graduation, I look back on my year in Bradford as having been a process of ‘unlearning’, during which I divested myself - I hope! – of a number of hang-ups, notions and theories. The faculty was enthusiastic and inspiring and I greatly benefited from the lectures, the stimulating classroom discussions, not to mention the repeated returns to the drawing board when an essay outline wasn’t up to the mark!
I was fortunate to then find a job that proved to be as stimulating and where I was able to apply my experience at Bradford and the skills acquired during my previous avatar as a journalist.
After graduation, I returned to India to intern with the South Asia Human Rights Documentation Centre (SAHRDC) in New Delhi and then stayed on to work as a researcher. SAHRDC is a civil and political rights organisation, documenting and taking action in cases of extrajudicial executions, torture, arbitrary detention, disappearances, violations of the freedom of expression, the freedom of association, and assessing, among other things, the impact of national security legislation on the enjoyment of human rights. As a senior researcher at the Centre, I supervise the documentation process, write articles and papers, edit drafts of reports, lead factfinding missions, participate in strategy sessions, and help supervise the day-to-day operations.
South Asia doesn’t have the best record when it comes to human rights. Every small success – compelling prison officials to provide medical care to a detainee or carrying out a successful campaign against a draconian piece of legislation – is therefore bittersweet; it only points to the enormity of the problem and the long struggle ahead. SAHRDC works chiefly on human rights issues in the Asia Pacific region, but also intervenes at the international level.
For several years, SAHRDC has been bringing out a weekly newspaper at the annual sessions of the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva. Working on the newspaper – Human Rights Features – has been an incredible experience. It has been more than a paper of record; its comments, critiques and analyses made
SAHRDC one of the most strident NGO voices at the Commission, combining research and advocacy to devastating effect. We hope to continue bringing out the paper at the newly established UN Human Rights Council, and I am already looking forward to the adrenalin-rush, the thrill of seeing government delegates surreptitiously picking up copies to read critiques of their countries’ human rights records, and the quiet sense of satisfaction felt when a point made by an article is reflected in the conference deliberations and taken up for action.
I was also lucky to be able to meet up with classmates from Bradford off and on – some in Geneva, others who passed through India during their travels and who will, I hope, continue to do so. Other close friends – in Palestine, Hong Kong, Japan/Mongolia, “somewhere in Latin America”, and elsewhere – who made being in Bradford such a joy, remain in touch long-distance.
As Published in the Peace Studies Alumni News (2006)