Human Rights Summer Intern Fellowship in La Plata, Argentina

 
Interested in Human Rights? Speak Spanish? Want to spend 6 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

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 La Plata in July and August of 2025. The program offers undergraduate students fellowship awards that enable them to travel to Argentina and spend six 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: Criminal Justice. Internship entails work with CPM's Committee against Torture: composed of lawyers and criminal justice experts, the committee's work entails monitoring incarceration and detention sites, interviewing and representing detainees, preparing reports.
• Area 2: History and Memory in the Argentine Landscape. Internship entails work with CPM Research and Sites of Memory Group: site-related research, public history educational activities, program development related to sites, engagement with sites of memory networks.
• Area 3: Communication and Promotion. Internship entails work with CPM's Press and Communication's team composed primarily of journalists: assist with creation of news content and translate to English; participate in event organization; design publications related to Human Rights and Memory.
• Area 4: Archival Preservation. Internship entails work with archivists to maintain and disseminate documents in declassified intelligence archive covering period of dictatorships; assisting with requests for information from victims, relatives, and scholars; translating materials for dissemination.

Read more about the Summer 2022 and 2023 Student Intern Fellows on the blog!

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.
 

Fellowship Dates

Summer 2025: July 7 – August 15, 2025
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 2023, 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 Contacts

Summer 2025: 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.