Location: Calais

Context

Human Rights Observers is an inter-associative project and independant watchdog. Its aim is to document, denounce and put an end to the violations of the human rights of displaced people at the French-UK border (Calais and Grande- Synthe).

Faced with an increase in the number of testimonies from exiled people denouncing police violence in 2017, HRO has since been tasked with being present as much as possible during police operations in order to document these practices and to act as a form of dissuasion against them.

The observations are carried out with teams of two people, sometimes more, and take place every day in Calais and from Monday to Friday in Grande-Synthe. To this end, the team members receive various trainings.

Our work is mainly divided into four complementary areas. Firstly, we collect data related to police operations, mainly concerning forced evictions from informal settlements. Secondly, we use this data to analyse the ‘zero-fixation point’ policy from a human rights perspective. Then we carry out advocacy work through different communication channels to denounce the policy carried out by the French and British authorities. Our jurists also work closely with other associations working on the UK-French border and lawyers to challenge State violence in all its forms (individual police violence, institutionalised theft, evictions, forced shelter operations, discrimination, etc.).

HRO interns will take part in the work of collecting this data on rights violations in support of the coordinators, after completing a series of trainings.

Missions

(these missions may vary according to the context and the projects in progress)

  • In the field: observation of evictions and police operations, and outreach sessions.
  • Data collection and treatment: recording data collected in the field during evictions, archiving photos and videos.
  • Collection of testimonies of exiled persons in cooperation with partner associations. These testimonies are usually about human rights violations, violence, etc.
  • Various projects and tasks: help with ongoing projects, translation of testimonies and documents, media monitoring, writing tweets etc.
Notes
  1. A large part of the work is done in the field, which implies daily contact with displaced people. In addition, the work of observing evictions leads us to interact daily with the police. Going to the field means going to the vicinity or living places of people on the move, which implies spending time outdoors, and being subject to at times harsh weather conditions.
  2. Most of the work is done in the office, processing the data that is collected on the ground.
  3. The timetable is adapted according to the needs. This means working shifts, sometimes early in the morning, but also working some weekends and public holidays in rotation with the rest of the team. That said, you will take two days off per week, which are compulsory.

As part of our data collection work, we collaborate with other associations working in Calais and Grande-Synthe. Thus, interns working with HRO may be asked to spend some time working with these partners in the warehouse.

Required Skills
  • Ability to work in a team, good adaptability.
  • Open-mindedness and ability to work in multicultural environments, enthusiasm, energy.
  • Good level of both French and English.
  • Ability to remain calm in tense situations, especially in front of police: our work consists of observing police operations. There may be a risk of confrontation with the police.
  • Basic knowledge of computer tools (especially Excel).
Additional skills

– Driving license is a big plus
– Knowledge of other languages: Arabic, Amharic, Oromo, Farsi, Tigrinya, Sorani, Pashto, German, Italian…
– Previous experience of volunteering with vulnerable people is a big plus.

Duration of the internship or volunteering

Due to the context in which the interns will be working and the need for training time, we ask that you commit to at least two months.

To Apply

Send your CV and cover letter to recrutement@humanrightsobservers.org specifying your period of availability. Specify in the subject line: HRO Internship/volunteering 2 months

Benefits

A free place in our volunteer house is possible.

Thank you!