United Nations Internship Report

In the fall of 2024, two students of Loreto College, Kolkata, Tanushua Goswami (Department of Psychology) and Ahana Ghosh (Department of English), took part in an internship programme offered by Sister Janet Palafox, IBVM/CJ representative to the United Nations. The multiple NGOs working with the UN play an instrumental role in influencing UN governance and legislation to focus more on the socio-economic and cultural development of the world community, particularly developing and undeveloped countries and vulnerable groups. The IBVM/CJ works resolutely with vulnerable people, focusing specially on women and girls whose human rights are denied and whose voices are brutally silenced. The IBVM/CJ collaborates with the Economic and Social Council and the Department of Global Communications at the UN and functions closely with organisations at the grass-root level to advocate for the protection of the rights, development, and meaningful representation of vulnerable people from diverse backgrounds.

The internship began in late September with a meeting organised by Sr. Janet, who oriented the students on the activities of the UN and the advocacy work performed by the IBVM/CJ. In the course of the internship, the students had to attend one weekly meeting where they interacted with other interns from all over the globe and collaborated in the tasks they were assigned. For the first task, the students were part of the team that formulated a written statement meant for submission to the Commission on the Status of Women. For the second task, the same team wrote the statement for the Commission of Social Development. Both the activities required in-depth research as the statements sought to explore the forms of discrimination felt by women, girls, and people belonging to vulnerable communities and ways of addressing such discrimination. The students gained a lot of knowledge as well as access to several new channels of information. They also submitted articles on the areas of their research, which are to be published in the IBVM/CJ website.

In the final month of the internship, the students worked on social media posts for the 16 Days of Action Against Violence Against Women (November 25–December 10). Vital information about the unfortunate situation of a large section of women in India was provided by Ahana Ghosh. Finally, she also guided teenage girls in their endeavour of writing an oral statement on behalf of the Working Group of Girls (allied with IBVM/CJ), where she came in contact with other chaperones and advocates for girls.

The internship experience of the two students widened their horizons, offering them perspective on several issues affecting vulnerable people. The internship definitely aided in raising their awareness with regard to the burning issues of the day, which often get neglected due to the focus of the world leaders on ‘high politics.’