The Norwegian Helsinki Committee accepts students as interns, both from Norwegian universities and through international partnerships. NHC internships are an opportunity for young individuals to get great insight into the working life and an important experience for the future.
– I was given the opportunity to work with communication in practice. It has been very educational, and it is completely different to what we read in books, says Kamilla Karlsholmen Hauge.
She was an intern at the NHC while she was writing her Bachelor’s in Media Science at the University of Oslo. The internship has gotten her a summer job and part time job at NHC later on.
I was given the opportunity to work with communication in practice. It has been very educational, and it is completely different to what we read in books.
Kamilla Karlsholmen Hauge
– It has been very helpful to have relevant experience on my CV, and I think that it also can help me in getting a relevent job after my studies, she says.
Contributing to human rights
With employees that represent 11 different nationalities and projects all over the world, Karslholmenn Hauge has been a part of an international environment for human rights.
– It is very giving to work for human rights, and I have learnt so much about fundamental human rights, society, politics and international relations. I have gotten more enlightened, Hauge continues.
She points out that the importance of the work NHC does was essential to why she chose to intern at the NHC.
– It is not that type of internship where the work primarily consists of making coffee, like you often get warned about, says Karlsholen Hauge and continues:
– I experienced getting a lot of trust and responsibility at NHC, which I think is necessary for you to do a good job. You get to try out a lot of different assignments, which is more difficult in bigger organizations. It is also very rewarding to see your work bringing results, concludes Hauge.
While she was an intern, she wrote online articles, attended meetings at the Parliament and was part of creating a campaign against the World Cup in Russia.
NHC has also had interns from OsloMet, who offers practical subjects for students who study media and communication.
Intern through the OSCE Academy
NHC also has a tradition for taking in international interns. Each year the NHC accepts an intern from the OSCE Academy which is based in Bishkek in Kyrgyzstan. One of these is Aselya Sagynbaeva from Kyrgyzstan.
– I wanted to study human rights issues in Central Asia from a different perspective, as well as wanting to enhance my knowledge of gender equality from a Western perspective, says Aselya Sagynbaeva, about why she chose to be an intern at NHC.
She has been NHC’s intern from the OSCE Academy during the fall of 2018. She is doing a Master´s degree in Economics and writes about gender issues regarding entrepreneurship in her home country. In Kyrgyzstan, she has also worked with two EU projects against torture and abuse.
– I did not notice how fast the time went by as an intern at the NHC, and what I loved the most was the people working there. They are brilliant professionals in their fields, and are willing to answer all questions and create a warm and comfortable condition for working, concludes Sagynbaeva, who was an intern at the Norwegian Helsinki Committee for two months.
I wanted to study human rights issues in Central Asia from a different perspective, as well as wanting to enhance my knowledge of gender equality from a Western perspective
Aselya Sagynbaeva
The OSCE academy is an international academy meant for students from Central Asia with a number of lecturers from around the world. The methodology is based on critical thinking. The academy is cooperating with different countries, and receives visitors from many international delegations. It is not financed directly by the OSCE, but through a number of OSCE member states, one of them being Norway.
The internship is offered by the NHC in collaboration with NUPI (Norwegian Foreign Policy Institute). NHC chooses the applicants they believe will gain the most from the internship, and who also have interests that overlap with the priorities and activities of NHC.
From autumn 2021, the Norwegian Helsinki Committee recruit interns through agreements with universities and university colleges. Such institutions may contact us to explore possibilities for entering into internship agreements. Contact person is Deputy Secretary General, Gunnar M. Ekeløve-Slydal ([email protected]).