Rafto Foundation for Human Rights

Location: Bergen based 

Requirements:
We will want students seeking an internship at Rafto to gain experience from the different branches of our work and will adapt the assignments to the interests and competence of the students as far as possible. The internship will mostly be focused on our international work. Language skills, country or regional competence, and academic specialization will guide the focus and assignment of specific tasks.

What is Rafto?

Rafto is a non-profit, non-partisan human rights organization dedicated to the promotion of human rights and support of human rights defenders. It is based in Bergen and has a global focus and outreach. The foundation has approximately a dozen employees located in Bergen, and numerous partners and colleagues abroad.

The Rafto Foundation awards an annual human rights award. The award ceremony and its connected activities mainly take place in Norway each November, with events aimed at general awareness-raising, advocacy, and support for the work of the laureate. Our cooperation with and support of the laureates and their priorities guide the work of the foundation. First and foremost, we have support programs for the laureates in the first years after receiving the award. This support is tailored to the laureates´ needs and interests, usually focused on advocacy, documentation of human rights violations, security needs, and creation of international networks of support for the laureates and their causes.

In addition, we provide strategic support for specific groups of human rights defenders. We run a program on Business and Human Rights including among other activities cooperation with the maritime industries in Bergen and other countries, an annual masters’ course offered at the University of Bergen, and involvement of Rafto laureates and other human rights defenders in advocacy to secure responsibility for human rights in business activities, as well as training programs on human rights and business for human rights defenders. The Rafto Foundation also coordinates a Women’s Human Rights Defender’s Network involving participants from North Africa, Middle East, and South Asia in various projects, most fundamentally to provide women human rights defenders with a supportive peer-to-peer network and run local projects to mobilize and support women human rights defenders in the region. 

At the Rafto House in Bergen we also provide a program of human rights education addressing primarily high school teachers and teaching students on the west coast of Norway, applying a broad variety of case-based and interactive teaching methods.

Internship at Rafto:

Assignments that might be relevant are:

• contribution to conceptualization, planning, and dissemination of information relating to events organized by Rafto,
• contribution to the logistical work in the organization and execution of events organized by Rafto,
• contribution to write and disseminate information, advocacy papers, and other communications by Rafto,
• research on political, legal, and other circumstances of relevance for our work with this year´s or earlier Rafto laureates,
• mapping of expertise, political processes, or legal proceedings of relevance for our work this year’s or earlier Rafto laureates or other human rights defenders,
• research on and mapping of relevant for our programs on Women Human Rights Defenders and Business responsibility for Human Rights