My name is Jachin Anrig, and I am rising 2L at Regent University of Law School.
This summer, I was given a legal internship opportunity abroad with the Handog Global University International Law School based in South Korea. The law school works with universities and organizations across Asia to help build law school programs in developing countries and further human rights. The school is led by a faculty with a wide range of legal experience but who are all brought together by their shared faith and a desire to educate Christian Lawyers in Korea to walk in accordance with their biblical commitment to “Do justice, love mercy, and walk humbly with your God.”
I currently have been in the Republic of Korea for two weeks and in that time have become familiar with a number of the faculty and students at the University. Each of the professors has sought to encourage and build us up in one manner or another in each of our meetings, whether it is reading scripture, praying, or challenging us to hold to a more orthodox Christian worldview.
We have been working on a wide range of subjects for the faculty, as they each focus on a different aspect of human rights law. The first project we were assigned was to draft an article for one of the professors on the effectiveness of COVID policies in the United States. Many countries in Asia have justified the use of extremely drastic measures curtailing both religious and individual liberties with purported success in slowing the spread of COVID and saving lives. However, as the wealth of research proving the ineffectiveness of COVID restrictions mounts the justification by world governments for their totalitarian measure wanes. The article we have been assisting with is to make accessible the growing evidence of the lockdown’s ineffectiveness to better equip those opposing the totalitarian methods their governments used.
Another project we have been working on is a report to the United Nations regarding human rights abuses perpetrated against disabled people in North Korea. Currently, in North Korea, there is an overall lack of value placed on lives in general, but the government is particularly harsh in its treatment of those with disabilities. However, North Korea has become a member of international treaties, including the Convention on the Right of Persons with Disabilities, which requires them to respect the rights of the disabled. The work we have been assisting with is in the effort to increase awareness for those responsible for enforcing the treaties to better understand the information needed to ensure North Kore is transparent about their actual policies and the implementation of those policies.
Overall I am very grateful to God and those supporting us for the time we have been given to work with the faculty and staff. I look forward to continuing working with the professors on future projects and developing a deeper understanding of the law on an international level.
This post was written by a Center for Global Justice Student Staff member/Law Clerk. The views expressed in this post do not necessarily reflect those of Regent University, Regent Law School, or the Center for Global Justice.