Learn with us
Clinical Legal Education
University Students
Justice Centre’s Human Rights Law Clinic provides an opportunity for university students to work on asylum cases within a nascent and fast-developing system. Students learn about the existing legal protection framework and its gaps, and develop their legal skills in a real practice setting where they are supervised to handle their own caseload. Students also help produce legal resources for refugee and migrant communities, and engage in research projects in support of our advocacy and awareness raising initiatives.
Through our Human Rights Law Clinic, students are guided to take a rights-based community-centred approach to legal work, learn the value of pro bono practice, connect with practitioners and experts, and develop practical skills to work with marginalised communities and challenge unfairness and injustice.
The work of our clinic students have contributed to access to protection and justice for refugees and vulnerable migrants, and the creation of helpful precedents. Graduates of our clinics have gone on to become refugee and public interest lawyers, representing protection claimants in Hong Kong’s asylum screening process, and working on public interest law issues around the world.
With more than a decade of experience in delivering clinical legal education, Justice Centre has successfully run our Human Rights Law Clinic with academic partners including the Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Cambridge and the Queensland University of Technology. In 2020, we adapted our programme to offer remote placements and facilitate ongoing engagement with our international education partners.
If you are a university and would like to partner with us to deliver an impactful clinical legal education programme to your students, please contact our Legal Officer (Clinics) Jessica Alam.
Hong Kong Human Rights Law Clinic 2021
Open to university law students who are based in Hong Kong over the summer, the Hong Kong Human Rights Law Clinic 2021 will empower students to make a difference to the lives of people seeking asylum in Hong Kong.
The application for this year’s clinic has been concluded. Please stay tuned for the next clinic in a few months’ time.
We were grateful for the amount of responsibility afforded to us. We all got a significant amount of client-facing time. This allowed us to really put into context the information that we had absorbed from the first week and underlined the importance of non-legal skills such as building client rapport and trust. I would definitely recommend that anyone interested in international human rights law take any opportunity they can to work with the JCHK. The scheme definitely stands out as compared to other NGO intern experiences, where students are so often tasked with the more menial and administrative work.
"I am grateful for the flexibility of the programme in which I was able to pursue my own interests through various personal projects. In addition, we worked on a number of casework that allowed us to utilise the information we obtained from training sessions during the first week of the clinic. The range of work assignments created a great opportunity to build upon practical legal and non-legal skills such as drafting documents, legal research, and conducting client interviews. This is an extremely valuable opportunity for anyone interested in human rights law and I would highly recommend students to take the opportunity to work with the Justice Centre Hong Kong."
"The Human Rights Law Clinic Programme is the most rewarding internship I have ever participated in. I have been able to obtain deep knowledge in the field of non-refoulement protection law through extensive training provided by Justice Centre; I have also been able to put this knowledge into practice: as a participant, I was not being tasked with repetitive administrative work, but actual meaningful work that created impact to non-refoulement protection claimants. However, what was most impressive about the Programme, is that Justice Centre is very welcoming of new ideas, even if these new ideas come from a clinic participant. As such during the Clinic Programme, I was able to make proposals to Justice Centre on schemes to better serve Non-refoulement protection claimants; and Justice Centre was very eager to support me beyond the clinic Programme to make the proposal a reality. Therefore, the Human Rights Law Clinic Programme is the most rewarding internship I have ever participated in; I strongly urge all law students who have creative ideas and who want to learn about how their legal knowledge can be used to better society to join the programme."
Young Advocates Programme
SCHOOL STUDENTS
The Young Advocates Programme (YAP) is a unique opportunity for high school students to gain hands-on experience in a non-profit setting.
Our YAP is based on our clinical legal education programmes. Through the intensive traineeship, Young Advocates gain practical experience in all areas of our work, from the provision of legal, counselling and social welfare support to refugees, to anti-human trafficking research and advocacy. They have the opportunity to provide support on real asylum cases, including sitting in on interviews and conducting research to help our lawyers in preparing legal submissions.
Each Young Advocate will be guided to design and develop their own personal interest project, which we encourage to be implemented in real life after completion of the programme. Past projects have included setting up groups to help source free eye care for refugees, coordinating basketball teams among refugee children and developing an advocacy platform which also raises funds for Hong Kong’s refugees.
Young Advocates receive one-to-one personal coaching and mentorship from our experienced and passionate team of staff lawyers and policymakers, helping students develop important skills, knowledge, and experience as they begin applying for university.
We believe that human rights education should start at a young age, and encourage high school students to consider the wider issues facing the communities they live amongst.
Young Advocates Programme 2021
We are running three programmes in 2021; one in the spring and two in the summer. Places are limited to six Young Advocates per session to allow us to offer a tailored programme to each student.
- Spring YAP: 29 Mar – 9 Apr (2 weeks)
- Summer YAP (1): 19 Jul – 6 Aug (3 weeks)
- Summer YAP (2): 2 – 20 Aug (3 weeks)
Who can apply?
The YAP is open to students aged between 14 – 18.
Young Advocates should have a keen interest in human rights law and refugee and migrant rights. The YAP is aimed at students interested in a career in law, psychology, social sciences, human rights or politics but it also allows those who are still deciding on potential study options to explore their interests.
Application deadline
Due to recent changes in travel restrictions, limited spots have opened up for both Summer YAP sessions. Please contact us as soon as possible to get a last-minute place. Applications will be considered on a rolling basis; we strongly recommend that you submit your application as soon as possible due to the high level of interest and limited spaces available.
Other information
For the cost and content of our programme, please refer to our information sheet. To apply, please email us your completed application form by the respective deadlines stated above and in the application form.
Sample schedules of our programme are also available upon email request.
"The Young Advocates Programme is a wonderfully immersive, fulfilling and enjoyable experience. The hands-on legal experience I was able to gain is unrivalled by any similar programmes I have attended in the past and the lectures I was able to attend went into extreme detail and was delivered by the extremely qualified staff of the Justice Centre. The staff at the Centre are extremely friendly and supportive, and are readily able to provide their expert opinion on any question I may have had. I was also able to meet some of the most ambitious and talented individuals in my fellow Young Advocates and the friendships and connections I’ve made during the Programme will definitely follow me as I prepare for higher education.
"One of the most unique programs I’ve been to. It provides a special balance of experiencing this line of work, which is not often found for high schoolers, as well as developing a nuanced view of the refugee situation not only in Hong Kong but around the world. It’s definitely something I’ll remember for a long time. I would highly recommend it."
"This program was eye-opening, engaging, and so much fun. Throughout the three weeks, I learned a whole new set of skills, met interesting people, and got amazing opportunities to further my learning. I really enjoyed being at Justice Centre this summer."
School Engagement
There are lots of ways to introduce the work of Justice Centre to your school. Whether you would like one of our experienced lawyers or advocates to deliver a presentation on human rights, to partner with us for a CAS project, or even to start your own Justice Club we’d love to hear your ideas!
For teachers and students who want to engage in our work, we would be happy to support you.
