Post by: Lauren Moustakas
“Learn to do right; seek justice. Defend the oppressed. Take up the cause of the fatherless; plead the widow’s cause.”
Isaiah 1:17
Hello, my name is Lauren Moustakas and I am a 3L at Regent Law School. This summer I was thankful to have spent the second half of my summer interning with Jubilee Campaign, an organization dedicated to speaking up for the vulnerable and oppressed.
Jubilee Campaign works to uphold human rights and religious freedom of religious and ethnic minorities in some of the most oppressive regions of the world such as Iran, Syria, Nigeria, North Korea, China, and many other nations. Additionally, Jubilee Campaign advocates for religious prisoners, vulnerable women and children, and religious freedom around the world.
While at the time of writing this post, I had only begun my internship with Jubilee Campaign, during that time I had grown in my understanding of the situation of human rights violations that are occurring around the world. It was eye opening to intern in Jubilee Campaign’s office and glimpse the magnitude of the worldwide persecution of religious freedom and minorities. I am thankful for the opportunity to have assisted in this work and be able to work on projects addressing persecution that is occurring in North Korea, South Korea, and Nigeria.
Human right abusers do not slow down or stop simply because the world slows down due to COVID and in many situations the persecution and abuse has become worse. While the amount of horrific abuse that occurs in the world is devastating, it has been encouraging to intern in the Jubilee Campaign office and witness the dedication of advocates who work tirelessly, even through a global health crisis, to address human rights abuses that in many cases have been ignored by human rights enforcement bodies. It has also been enlightening to see how vital NGOs and individual advocates are to bringing human rights violations to the attention of human right enforcement bodies who will hopefully then take action to correct the oppression.
As a student who decided to attend law school in order to become equipped to advocate for the voiceless, I am grateful for the opportunity to learn from such dedicated advocates and hope to be such a voice for the oppressed.
This post was written by a Center for Global Justice Intern. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.