Re:Report on IHRP Internship Experience in Ghana, July/August 2003

To:IHRP

From:Emily Mak

Re:Report on IHRP internship experience in Ghana, July/August 2003

Date:13 February 2004

1. Summary of the project

Tara Cochrane, Robin Rix, and I collaborated on a memorandum regarding the legal rights and entitlements of people living with HIV/AIDS (“PLWHA”) in Ghana. We worked closely with a Ghanaian support group for PLWHAs, located at the Fevers Unit at KorleBuHospital in Accra, the Wisdom Association. The objective of our memorandum was two-fold: first, to examine the legal rights of PLWHAs, including Constitutional, statutory and common law entitlements, and the mechanisms for enforcement of those rights. Second, to establish a media strategy for the Wisdom Association and PLWHAs in general, and to create a Journalists’ Code of Conduct when interviewing PLWHAs.

What I think is most valuable about our project is that it will continue to benefit the Wisdom Association and PLWHA’s even after we have left. The legal memorandum is a reference tool on the rights of PLWHAs and can be incorporated into the Wisdom Association’s education and counseling strategy. Also, we included procedural summaries on how to lodge complaints with CHRAJ, the National Media Commission, and the Ghana Medical Association, to help PLWHA’s enforce their rights. While we were in Ghana, we conducted presentations at the Wisdom Association to educate members about their rights. As the cliché goes, our project could help Ghanaians “fish for themselves for a lifetime.”

2. Personal reflections

JHR is a great organization to work for because it is a relatively small, grass-roots type of organization with an ambitious mandate, but without the bureaucracy. I really wanted to work for a group where I could have a lot of hands-on experience, and input into the decision-making process, and JHR fit the profile.

Ghana was absolutely amazing, and no doubt an experience I will remember for a lifetime. We were there just long enough to get a taste of life in Ghana, but not long enough to hit the doldrums and feel homesick. I spent every day trying to get as much out of the place as I could, traveling, going out to meet people, eating the local food, etc. I cannot express how much it has meant to me to have met and known my friends in Ghana, to live that life for six weeks, and to use my legal education for good – not “corporate evil”! The best endorsement I could give is that if you let me do it all over again, I wouldn’t change a thing. Thank you.

For more information, feel free to read an article I wrote for the Faculty of Law newspaper, Ultra Vires, see about my experience in Ghana.