Wow, what a week! A lot has certainly been happening since I
last updated you all. This week’s classes were mostly spent learning about the
different areas of international human rights law, focusing on international
humanitarian law; international criminal law; and gender and sexuality. We also
learnt about the role of non-governmental organisations and human rights
defenders. One very important message, which was emphasised in our classes, was
how, besides the relevant legal mechanisms, people power really is the key to
making a difference in the realm of human rights.
My afternoon classes were about the practice of targeting
killings; the means and methods of warfare; and the rules pertaining to
belligerent occupation. For many us, these topics were quite confronting and
challenging and led to much discussion. I also spent one afternoon attending a
careers panel that the faculty had set up for us. It was really interesting
gaining an insight into how some of the most eminent scholars in the field
ended up getting to where they are now.
Since the weather has remained beautiful this week, we spent
one afternoon punting. A few of us opted to get a chauffeured boat, something
we were really happy about once we saw some of our friends who’d chosen to do
it themselves stuck in some trees and struggling to get out! A big group of us
headed to Jamie Oliver’s restaurant another night, to celebrate a birthday on
our program. The food there really was amazing!
We spent Friday night in the Junior Common Room watching the
Opening Ceremony of the Olympics. The eight Aussies on the program all
cheered when we saw our athletes march but we were definitely outnumbered by
all the Americans here! The weekend was then spent in London and I was lucky
enough to have gotten tickets to the hockey a few months back. As chance would
have it, I ended up seeing Australia and New Zealand play, which was very
exciting! However, the large number of Australian spectators wasn’t enough for
the Hockeyroos, who lost 1-0 to the Kiwis. I also stayed to watch the
Netherlands play Belgium – the Dutch sure love their hockey!
With exams coming up
next week, the last week of the program is set to be a fair bit quieter than
this one.
~ Lindsey
Lindsey Chu is participating on our Oxford International Human Rights Law Program in the UK. Lindsey is in her 5th year of Bachelor of Communications/Law at University of Newcastle.
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