Testimonials from The International Human Rights Law Summer School 2025 Students
As the 2025 Human Rights Law Summer School came to a close, we spoke to a selection of students about their experiences of summer school. We asked them to share their key take-outs, whether they would recommend it, and what they learned. Read about their experiences below.
Hanna Sahlström, Sweden
What’s been your experience of Summer School so far?
“I wish there were more hours in the days because you want to read everything, and you want to speak to everyone, because it’s so interesting. You don’t want to sleep. You just want to speak to everyone and learn.”
Would you recommend this programme to someone else?
“Yes, I would. As a European, and coming from a European perspective, I just love being told that Europe is not the centre. It’s so interesting to have a global perspective. One of the course tutors, Meghna Abraham, is great at giving a global perspective. It’s so interesting learning about the African system and the Inter-American system – I found that so fascinating from a European point of view. It’s so important to see where the influences are coming from.
“It's so hopeful to meet all these people. I hope I can say in couple of years I will see one of their names in the international legal field. Everyone is so friendly. They are very human. The professors are so cool - the coolest, all of them. It’s a very nice group.”
Riola Kok, South Africa
How are you finding summer school?
“I really love summer school. I think it’s been incredibly informative. The way the lectures are structured is such that everybody feels that they are able to contribute, regardless of how much experience they have or where they are in their career. All the lecturers are incredibly open and welcoming, and I really like that. It’s provided an environment for critical engagement, where everybody feels like they can contribute both from personal and professional experience.”
Would you recommend it?
“Absolutely. I traditionally thought of summer school as something for those with less experience, but I think there is equal value for someone with ten years of experience, and someone with three weeks of experience. I definitely encourage people to apply for summer school because there’s so much value to be gained at any point in your career.”
What’s been your best moment so far?
“The people that you meet here are incredibly important because I think that maybe they’ll be future colleagues, but also, they’ll become really good friends because you share common values.
“My best moment so far – that’s so hard, there’s been so many good ones – personal experience sharing – where people explore ‘what does this mean for them’. The ability to open up, space for people to ask meaningful questions, this has been one of the important things.
“Professor Helen Duffy’s class on Human Rights Lawyering and the experiences she’s shared on cases and the impact that it’s made, maybe not globally necessarily, but on individual lives – for people to say, it’s enough for me to be believed, I still want to go through with this regardless of whether or not there is compensation because it’s important for setting the scene for other people to be able to do this. Human Rights Lawyering has been my favourite part of the course.”
Sarah McCarthy, Australia
What’s been your experience of summer school?
“It’s incredible, a profoundly inspiring, and engaging experience. The people here, both the other students and the lecturers, are just extraordinary and bring an incredible wealth of knowledge and experience to what is a really interesting and dynamic topic. Hearing people share experiences from countries including Uganda, South Africa, and Brazil, has been a really unique and rewarding experience.
What’s been a key moment for you?
“We had a lecture with four of the Summer School’s founders to mark its 30th anniversary. What really came through, in hearing their reasons for creating it, was just how passionate they still are, 30 years later, about its purpose and reach throughout the world. Thinking about how many people they must have educated over the course of 30 years - I thought that was a really powerful moment.
Would you recommend this Summer School to other people?
“Absolutely. I’m probably towards the older end of those doing the summer school this year. I’m a practising barrister back in Australia. I’ve been a barrister for seven years and a lawyer for about 15. I’m doing it as a sort of career break. It reminded me why I’m doing law, which got a bit lost over the past seven years. It’s been a really special time and I’m really grateful for everyone here.
Amir Kalantary, USA
“I love the spirit of this programme, of bringing American students into the International legal scene. In the spirit of international cooperation, when we come back and we grow up, maybe some of us become of us become judges, maybe some of us will become litigators, maybe some of us will become business leaders but when we incorporate international law into our decision making in the future, we could incorporate America into the greater world scene.”
Nayla Rida, Morocco
How are you finding summer school?
“I think it’s a wonderful opportunity to connect with likeminded legal professionals or people interested the legal profession to try and make an impactful change globally when it comes to human rights and human rights advocacy. I’m particularly pleased to see so many global south colleagues and I’m very thankful for everyone who made that possible.”
Nitika Reddy, USA
How are you finding summer school?
“I’m loving it, I think it was definitely a bit of an adjustment at the beginning. Fun fact, I did an Oxford programme when I was 17 for a month so this is a bit of a full circle moment and this time, I feel like I’m definitely getting to enjoy Oxford as not a 17 year old. I’m getting to do all the things I feel like I always wanted to do.
“I’m really enjoying meeting so many different people from across the world and getting different perspectives. It’s been really nice.”
What’s been a key moment for you?
“I’m currently in the Freedom of Expression Class. That’s been an amazing class. I love the professor; he’s really engaging and amazing. One of the things that I’ve really missed in Law School is the discussion aspect, in the first year, students are in big classes, it’s hard to speak up, but when you’re in an eight-person class you can really get to discuss and get into the nitty gritty of things, that’s been really wonderful.”
Would you recommend it to someone else?
“Yes definitely. If you wanted to push yourself out of your comfort zone, explore a new country, a new learning environment it’s a really great experience. Also, they do a pretty good job of not inundating you with so much work that you can’t have your own time to explore and do your own things.”
Kara Otuke, USA
How have you enjoyed summer school?
“I really like summer school. I like the opportunity to be able to meet with people from different countries. There’s a diverse range of people with different experiences, it’s not just law students, which I really like, because when you’re at law school you spend the day with other law students with limited experiences. Whereas people here are already practising, they know a lot more than I do and it’s great to learn from them.
Would you recommend this to other people?
“I would recommend it to other people because I feel that it broadens your horizons, not just in terms of school or your career but just in life. Being able to go to a different country and just see how they live and what they do. I’m from the US and so it’s similar to the UK but there are a lot of things that are different and so it’s good for me to be able to learn about a different culture.
Has there been a critical moment for you so far?
“There are lot of moments that have impacted me. We took a tour, “Uncomfortable Oxford” and went and saw different monuments, heard the backgrounds behind them and how they are rooted in oppressive systems. I think that was really important to learn so that was lightbulb moment for me.
Erik Mangajaya, Indonesian Permanent Mission based in Vienna
How are you enjoying Summer School?
“I like it very much. I think this is very useful for me as an Indonesian diplomat who is dealing with the issue of multilateral issues including human rights, and also international criminal law. I believe it’s not only very useful now but also for my future career.
Has there been a lightbulb moment for you?
“Listening to the speakers, teachers, and professionals at the Bonavero it seems there is always a value on how to put human rights in international lessons. So, I believe it’s not only about the pros and cons, there is also a value of how to define human rights. I was surprised because I thought it was quite pessimistic, but it seems very optimistic to see the importance of human rights regulations and governance on international lessons. I was surprised to see the values and the understanding of the professors and also colleagues in the summer school.
