On Friday, January 27, the global community commemorated the International Day of Commemoration in Memory of the Victims of the Holocaust.  The date marks the anniversary of the liberation of the Nazi Concentration and Extermination Camp of Auschwitz-Birkenau by Soviet troops on 27 January 1945. It was officially proclaimed, in November 2005, by the United Nations General Assembly. In this context, the UN Secretary General António Guterres told during the annual ceremony, held at the historic Park East Synagogue in New York, that “the Holocaust did not happen as a ‘lesson’ for humanity, but it did happen. And because it happened, it may happen again.”

Fri, Feb 3, 2023, 1 PM – 2:15 PM EST  Access to Justice and Forced Displacement In-person & Virtual   RSVP | EVENT INFO

Thursday, February 2, 2023, 12:15 PM - 1:15 PM ET
Columbia Law School, Room 416

Lunch lecture: Conflicts among 220+ nationalities: mediating in the United Nations workplace

Please join Columbia International Arbitration Association Please for a lunch lecture with Mushegh Manukyan, "Conflicts among 220+ nationalities: mediating in the United Nations workplace." The event will consist of a short 20-30 minutes lecture, followed by a Q&A session with the audience.

More about the speaker:
Mushegh Manukyan manages the Mediation Unit of the Office of the Ombudsman for United Nations Funds and Programmes being responsible for building and overseeing the Global Mediation Panel. Mushegh is an international attorney, mediation pioneer, and arbitration counsel. He is also Pro Bono Counsel at Enveritas, a company that provides sustainability assurance for the coffee industry. Before joining the United Nations, he served as a mediator at the D.C. Court of Appeals and The World Bank Group’s Compliance Advisor Ombudsman and focused on encouraging mediation globally, especially in the context of investor-state disputes. He has extensive experience in mediation and arbitration, as well as in representing foreign companies in various complex matters. Most recently, he practiced international dispute resolution at Three Crowns LLP (Washington, D.C. office).

Click here to register.

Friday, February 3, 2023, 10:00 AM - 12:30 PM ET
Conference Room 4, UN HQ, New York

Harmony in a world in crisis

World Interfaith Harmony Week is an annual event observed during the first week of February, after General Assembly designation in 2010. The General Assembly pointed out that mutual understanding and interreligious dialogue constitute important dimensions of a culture of peace and established World Interfaith Harmony Week as a way to promote harmony between all people regardless of their faith. Recognizing the imperative need for dialogue among different faiths and religions to enhance mutual understanding, harmony and cooperation among people, the General Assembly encourages all States to spread the message of interfaith harmony and goodwill in the world’s churches, mosques, synagogues, temples and other places of worship during that week, on a voluntary basis and according to their own religious traditions or convictions. This year’s focus will be in regard to addressing future pandemics and natural catastrophic events that adversely impact the health and wellbeing of peoples, as well as accentuate already-existing inequities.

Note: Attendees are asked to arrive at the United Nations visitor's entrance at 45th Street and 1st Avenue at 9:15AM to receive their admission passes.

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As political instability around the world displaces larger and larger numbers of people, the international community struggles to institute an adequate and equitable arrangement to meet its obligations to protect refugees; repatriation is more often than not impossible, refugees face deplorable conditions in camps as well as inadequate paths to local integration and resettlement, and burden sharing amongst states is highly inequitable.

In 2020, 86% of the world’s 25.6 million refugees were hosted by low and middle income countries.  An increasing number of critical scholars are bringing a decolonial lens to the analysis of these failures, tracing the root causes to the colonial origins of international refugee legal frameworks.

As Antony Anghie writes in his seminal book Imperialism, Sovereignty and the Making of International Law, international law cannot be separated from the European colonial project that it was created to support, justify, and prolong. These analyses connect the historical use of international refugee law as an instrument of racial discrimination, cultural subordination, and economic exploitation to the unequal burden-sharing, inadequate standards of protection, and racial undertones of today’s international refugee governance regime.This discussion will trace the international refugee governance regime from the racism and colonialism embedded in its epistemology to the ideological fallacies of the mainstream discourse on reforming the regime, ultimately arriving at the question: what would it mean to decolonize refugee governance? And how do we get there?

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The Bank Internship Program is now accepting applications through January 31st for its Summer Term (May – September 2023).

The Bank Internship Program (BIP) offers highly motivated individuals an opportunity to be exposed to the mission and work of the World Bank. The internship allows individuals to bring new perspectives, innovative ideas and research experience into the Bank's work, while improving skills in a diverse environment. In addition, it is a great way to enhance CVs with practical work experience. Internships are available in both development operations and other business units (such as Human Resources, Communications, Accounting, etc.) however, availability during a given internship term is based on business need.
Apply Here

UNDP Internship for Data and Analytics
Application Deadline: 31 January 2023

Required Skills and Experience
Interns are selected on a competitive basis. Applicants to UNDP internships must at the time of application meet one of the following academic requirements:

(a) Be enrolled in a graduate school programme (second university degree or equivalent, or higher);
(b) Be enrolled in the final academic year of a first university degree programme (minimum Bachelor’s level or equivalent);
(c) Have graduated with a university degree (as defined in (a) and (b) above) and, if selected, must start the internship within one-year of graduation.
(d) be enrolled in a postgraduate professional traineeship program and undertake the internship as part of this program.

Duties and Responsibilities
In the cover note, candidate should indicate the track they are interested in:
TRACK 1: Integrated policy
TRACK 2: Microeconomic modelling and analysis
TRACK 3: Macroeconomic modelling and analysis
TRACK 4: Data visualization
TRACK 5: Geospatial analysis
TRACK 6: Data Science

Apply Here

The Internship Program is a project-oriented learning opportunity for graduate students to gain experience through research assignments based on ADB’s current operational needs.

ADB advertises internship assignments twice a year and welcomes motivated, open-minded, and self-directed individuals to apply.

The internship program offers the opportunity to:

• work in a major international development organization;
• work collaboratively with experienced professionals from over 50 different countries;
• gain a deeper understanding of development finance and the impact of the work ADB does; and
• contribute to ADB's business through research outputs.

Apply Here

The African Development Bank’s internship program aims to deliver on the strategic focus of the Bank’s Ten-Year Strategy. These priority areas are commonly referred to as the High 5s:

1. Light Up and Power Africa
2. Feed Africa
3. Integrate Africa
4. Industrialize Africa
5. Improve the Lives of the People of Africa

Objectives of the Internship Program

The Bank’s Internship program aims to:

• Provide students with the ability to work in an international environment;

• Provide the Bank with a pool of potential candidates in the future; and

• Enhance the visibility of the Bank and its development activities.

Apply Here

The United Nations Office for Disarmament Affairs (UNODA) is seeking  motivated interns to support the work of the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. The interns can take up assignments with any team in the Office, including the Strategic Planning and Monitoring Unit; the Political, Peacekeeping, Humanitarian and Human Rights Unit; the Rule of Law Unit; the Sustainable Development Unit; the Policy Advisor’s Office; or other units.

Interns report to full-time professional staff and focus on one of the three tracks set out under Responsibilities.

Apply Here

The Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA) / Division for Inclusive Social Development (DISD) internship is for two months with the opportunity for extension up to a total of six months, depending on the needs of the Division.

For more information about the Division, please visit here.

The internship is UNPAID and full time. Interns work five days per week (35 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in the department or office to which they are assigned.

Apply Here

This internship is in the Analytics and Project Management Section of the Business Transformation and Accountability Division of the Department of Management Strategy, Policy and Compliance (DMPSC).

The DMSPC/BTAD Analytics and Project Management team develops dashboards and other online platforms to support monitoring and reporting on performance; promotes business innovation and new ways of working, taking a long-term view of how the UN’s business model is aligned with evolving mandates, changing operational environments, as well as changes in the workplace and society-at-large; coordinates portfolio of transformational projects, ensuring projects are designed, communicated and implemented according to best practices in change and project management.

The internship is for a period of four months with an opportunity for extension up to six months, depending on the needs of the department. The internship is UNPAID and full-time. Interns work up to five days a week (35 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in the office to which they are assigned.

Apply Here

The internship with the Inter-organizational and Inter-institutional Support Branch (IISB) of the Office of Intergovernmental Support and Coordination for Sustainable Development (OISC) of the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs (UN-DESA) is for two months, with an opportunity for extension, pending on the needs of the Department.

The internship is UNPAID and full time.

Interns work five days per week (35 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in IISB to which they are assigned.

Apply Here

The intern shall support OHCHR in fulfilling its mission: to work for the protection of all human rights for all people; to help empower people to realize their rights; and to assist those responsible for upholding such rights in ensuring that they are implemented.

This internship is an UNPAID and full-time engagement that provides a framework through which students from diverse academic backgrounds gain exposure to the work of the United Nations by way of their service within Secretariat entities. 

Based in New York, United States of America, under the overall leadership of the High Commissioner, the intern reports to the respective Chief of Section or Human Rights Officer in the area of assignment. This internship will be offered for an initial period of two (2) months, renewable for a combined period of six (6) months.

Apply Here

Asha Jhanay Richards, Program Assistant, ajr2264@columbia.edu
Aurelian Dragos Mohan, Program Assistant, aurelian.d.mohan@columbia.edu