Human rights refer to the basic freedom and rights that each and every individual is expected to be entitled to throughout the world. This involves economic and cultural right, freedom of expression and thought, right to work, food and education, right to liberty and life. Human rights lawyer is responsible to implement these rights, prosecute those who abuse them, defend those who are subjected to violate them.
There are certain aspects that are associated with the responsibilities of these lawyers. It really depends on the areas of interest in human rights they deal with, whether they are working for a government or non government agency, a university, an international organization or are practicing in private (private practice). Generally, a human rights attorney could have plenty of different tasks depending on for whom they are working.
Function
Human rights lawyer deals with both defending and prosecuting people involving in the cases of variety of human rights issues such as abuse and torture. They spend hours in investigating the case by employing both domestic and international laws of human rights. This also involves interrogating witnesses as well as clients. In some cases, they can use media to disclose certain vital issues related to human rights.
Skills
An effective and proficient human rights attorney needs to have good interpersonal skills, as they will be expected to interact and interview the witness, clients, and media outlets. They should hold good advocacy skills in regards to investigation and interviewing. These skills are essential to reach the bottom of the case and resolve it successfully. They also need to have excellent organizational skills along with the capability to team setting.
Areas of Functioning
Human rights lawyer deals with variety of affairs. They are as follows:
Representing victims: Interviewing and meeting people who have had desecrated their rights, advocating for them by becoming their representative, writing briefs, preparing for court, filing petitions, representing their clients in criminal and civil court etc.
Policy: Depending on the current political situations, modifying law etc., a human rights attorney who is working for government agency has to spend their day initially doing paper work. Changing working pattern or protocols to prevent the desecration of rights, evaluating the pattern of the current polices endorsement (rather than defy) of human rights law, humanizing policy makers or supporting the laws to be adopted or discarded.
Investigation of Human Rights Defiance: Meeting and interviewing the victims and their families, witnesses and significant informants (academics, who perform research in human rights, mayor, head of the police department etc.), creating reports on the basis of the data collected through research, interacting with the government leaders and media and employing their investigative reports to advocate for modification.
Acting as Advocate, Attorney, Lawyer, Researcher and an All Rounder: In certain cases, (such as being a individual lawyer who is employed in a human rights organization in country with critical desecrations), a human rights attorney might have to perform variety of activities simultaneously such as representing the clients, doing research, prosecuting and many more. This lawyer might have to meet the victims, client, and witnesses of the incident, going to prison or police station for inquiring the release of the client or to file the repercussion of a beating at the hands of police, interacting with the media etc. In such conditions, lawyers may find themselves to work more as a social worker than an attorney.
Advocating, Teaching, Preparing Documents and Conducting Academic Investigation: Some human rights lawyers initially work within academic arenas where they educate the students about human rights, they conduct studies, write academic papers for evaluated journals, writing articles and books on human rights law for the people belonging to the non lawyer background and presenting at conferences.
Work Environment
They may work in academic organizations, courtroom, and private services. They might have to visit their clients or witnesses for collecting evidences that can be used in the court.
The working schedule of a human rights lawyer is likely to be irregular including working beyond office hours and weekend work. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 33 percent of lawyers work more than 50 hours a week.
In all, it can be said that the human rights lawyer has to work in different environments. They may have to deal with different kinds of people for collecting the evidences.
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