International human rights and humanitarian law advocacy clinic

ongoing

AdvoC aims to offer 15-30 students enrolled in the University of Milan or any other higher education institution and recent graduates the chance to develop both the theoretical knowledge and a set of practical skills that will enable them to effectively advocate for international human rights and humanitarian law. This activity will be carried out in the form of a spring-summer school (both in-person and online): whilst the ‘clinical’ activity will start in spring and require the attendees 3-month involvement in specific projects to be agreed upon with relevant stakeholders, the other activities will take place in the summer and include (i) an intensive series of seminars on the theory and practice of international human rights and humanitarian law advocacy at the European level, as well as the international and national ones, (ii) a shorter session on transversal competences, and (iii) a final roundtable. The expected outcome of this activity is twofold. First, it seeks to fill an employability gap in higher education. Whilst several law schools organise legal clinics, no clinic appears to have ever been devoted (at least in Italy) to the developing of the appropriate competences and skills for a career in human rights and humanitarian law advocacy. Second, AdvoC aims to promote active citizenship and European values by (i) teaching attendees to access available avenues for civil society participation, and (ii) disseminating relevant information to society at large. Indeed, the involvement of academics and representatives of civil society organisations or other relevant entities (working in both EU and non-EU countries), as well as the activity’s planned outputs (open-access template training materials and attendees’ projects outputs; 3 open live-streamed roundtables), will contribute to the achievement of this broader societal impact goal and, at the same time, support the creation of similar activities in other universities within the EU and beyond.