Asia-Pacific Forum for Women, Law and Development (Chiang Mai, Thailand)
IHRP Intern Caitlin Sainsbury at the Asia-Pacific Forum for Women, Law and Development |
So far, I've had an amazing internship experience. It's been wonderful to be back in Chiang Mai eating mangos and meeting old friends. Working at both the Unit for Social and Environmental Research (USER) and the Asia Pacific Forum on Women, Law and Development (APWLD) has required a fair bit of juggling, but I feel fortunate in having the opportunity to work at two diverse organizations with different goals, priorities, and objectives.
At USER, I have primarily been working as a research assistant on assorted research projects relating to regional governance in the Mekong. I've been editing papers and research proposals and providing information about various international conventions and agreements signed by countries in the region that pertain to water and natural resources. The institute is in the process
of publishing a collection of papers by academics from the various Mekong countries on water related governance issues. As part of this process, I have also been supporting the work of my supervisor on Multi-Stakeholder Processes (MSPs).
At APWLD I have been involved in a mix of advocacy work and research in support of the organization's Women and the Environment campaign on Food Sovereignty. I have undertaken research on the impact of bilateral free trade agreements in Asia on agricultural producers and am beginning research on the impact of water privatization on Food Sovereignty. Over the past two 
weeks, I had the opportunity to travel to Bangkok to participate in the Asia Pacific NGO Forum on the Beijing Platform for Action + 10 Process. APWLD organized three workshops and two rallies to launch their new three year campaign to recognize the unique risks faced by women human rights defenders across the globe. Close to 1000 women from all across asia, including academics, indigenous women, women from the dalit movement, rural women, and many others participated in the forum, and it was an incredible, humbling, and moving experience. The workshop APWLD organized on human rights mechanisms and violence against women was particularly humbling as a law student-- in speaking about hr mechanisms the workshop was quick to be reminded by women living in remote communities that the reality of their day to day lives was such that attempting to invoke CEDAW or other hr mechanisms often was met with ridicule or contempt by law enforcement officials.
After the Asia NGO Forum, I traveled with the staff of APWLD to Konchanaburi, Thailand to take part in a staff development and planning workshop. Although I won't be here for the remainder of the year (sadly!) it was an incredible opportunity to witness the staff's reflection on the work of the organization and to get a sense of the institutional development and planning that goes in to lobbying for women's human rights at the regional level. APWLD will be putting an article in their next newsletter about U of T's IHRP, and hopefully we can be a resource at some point for some of the 170 individual and organizational members of APWLD across Asia.
As a sidenote, I had the opportunity to participate in a birthday rally for Aung San Suu Kyi organized by the Women's League of Burma here in Chiang Mai-- it was a wonderful experience, and I found out later that my roommate and I had made the cover of Chiang Mai's newspaper! I'll be sure to bring a copy home.
