Human Rights Summer Intern Fellowship in La Plata, Argentina
Interested in Human Rights? Speak Spanish? Want to spend
eight weeks in Argentina working as an intern at one of Latin America’s premier Human Rights organizations? Consider applying to be a human rights intern fellow!
Picture: Summer 2022 Human Rights Fellows, submitted by Astrid Garcia
Program Description
La Plata is the capital city of the province of Buenos Aires. The metropolitan area has a population of over 500,000 and is located approximately 50 miles from Buenos Aires. La Plata is located on the River Plate and enjoys warm summers and mild winters with little snowfall in the city. The city’s parks, plazas, museums, and architecture make it an environment suited to both academic and leisure pursuits.
Building on our longstanding partnership with
Argentina’s Comisión Provincial por la Memoria (CPM- Memory Commission), one of Latin America’s premier human rights organizations, William & Mary is pleased to offer Human Rights Intern Fellowships in 2026. The program offers undergraduate students fellowship awards that enable them to travel to Argentina and spend
eight weeks engaged in hands-on work with Comisión staff addressing human rights issues, past and present. Students live with host families, select the area of work in which they wish to participate, and dive into that work in collaboration with CPM staff.
Anticipated Internship Options: (subject to availability)
Area 1:
Art, Memory, and Human Rights
- Introduction to the connections between art, memory, and the struggle for human rights in Argentina
- Researching the lives and works of artists linked to human rights who are part of the museum's heritage collection
- Conducting interviews with national artists
- Producing and assembling traveling exhibitions
- Training on inventory, materials, and packaging. Repairing frames, restoring images, etc.
- Creating biographies of artists in English and Spanish
- Translating and voice recording of audio guides for the museum
- Assisting and documenting during guided tours
Area 2:
Mechanism for the Prevention of Torture
- Theoretical introduction to the concepts of torture, monitoring of detention institutions, and the local and international legal frameworks supporting intervention, reading, analysis, and collective discussion.
- Training on the judiciary, criminal process, and judicial actions.
Choosing a specific program for the internship among Childhood, Mental Health, Inspection of Detention Facilities, Reception of Reports, and Complex Interventions.
Depending on the chosen program, interns may engage in tasks such as:
- Reception of Reports from detained persons and their families.
- Inspecting prisons and detention facilities for young people
- Inspecting psychiatric institutions
- Conducting interviews with detainees
- Conducting interviews with individuals with mental health issues housed in detention facilities
- Documenting and intervening in the situations of detained persons
- Preparing reports for judicial presentations
- Developing and consulting databases of victims
- Systematizing interviews in institutional databases
Area 3:
Research on Genocide and Crimes Against Humanity.
- Studying crimes related to State Terrorism.
- Researching to produce information for the REVIGE database (Registry of Genocidal Violence)
- Reading and analyzing documents from the archive of the Buenos Aires Provincial Police Intelligence Directorate (DIPPBA)
- Creating maps to geo-reference the cases surveyed during the research.
Area 4:
Archives of Repression.
- Searching for information in the archive and preparing reports
- Receiving personal requests regarding individuals registered by the Intelligence Directorate during the dictatorship and democracy
- Cleaning and preserving paper documents that make up the Archive of the Directorate of Intelligence of the Buenos Aires Province Police (DIPPBA)
Area 5: Communication and Culture
- Designing graphic and audiovisual materials for institutional social media
- Translating materials from Spanish to English
Area 6:Youth and Memory
- Introduction to the history of the program and the pedagogy of memory
- Viewing productions created by youth
- Participating in district meetings of young people
- Training on the dictatorship extermination plan and the desaparecido concept
- Systematizing projects about victims of state terrorism carried out by young people
- Creating a map of desaparecidos from the Buenos Aires province.
Read more about the Summer 2022 and 2023 Student Intern Fellows on the
blog!
Fellowship Dates
Summer 2026: June 15 to August 7, 2026
Applications due: November 20, 2025
Language Requirements
Advanced intermediate Spanish language skills are required for enrollment (HISP 208 or equivalent).
Eligibility
Students must be an active W&M undergraduate degree-seeking student in good standing, not on academic or disciplinary probation during Summer 2026, and eligible to take classes at the W&M Williamsburg campus. To be eligible, you must not have graduated prior to the Fellowship.
Fellowship Grant Funding
Students are eligible to apply for financial support up to $5,000 through the "
Funding for Unpaid and Underfunded Student Experiences (F.U.S.E.)" grant administered by the Career Center. More information and deadlines can be found at the Career Center
website. In the past, this grant covered a significant portion of flights, room & board, in-country orientation, and insurance.
Program Fee
The amount due to the CPM is $2400. The CPM fee covers program administration, airport transport in Argentina, lodging, and partial board (breakfast and dinner) for the 8-week internship.
Program Contacts
Summer 2026:
Professor Catherine Brix
For questions regarding FUSE or the logistics of the La Plata Human Rights Internship Program, please refer to the
La Plata Human Rights Summer Intern Fellowship FAQs, which will also be available in the Learning Content section of your portal after starting your application. If you have additional inquiries, contact
wmabroad@wm.edu or
Ying Liu. For more information on how to apply, please review the Apply/Register section of our website.
