(Poster Photo Caption: In the second floor flag hall, which connects the Conference Building with the General Assembly Building, and features the flags of member states!)
Greetings fellow Laidlaw Scholars!
I'm grateful for another exciting and informative week during my LIA! This week started off in our office, where I worked on resurrecting our Instagram, and ended with a visit to the UN's Headquarters to represent the ILF at the 2026 Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 16 Conference.
Restarting Our Social Media
A key step in pivoting the ILF towards an even more expansive range of impact - and one which defined my initial LIA outline - was nurturing a strong online presence which would help the ILF inform the public about its mission and increase awareness of its mandate.
The first duty I undertook pertaining to this goal started last week, when I began transforming real cases the ILF managed in Myanmar into easy-to-read composite stories. As mentioned last week, I found this work extremely informative as it gave me a real look at the work and impact of the ILF, especially when contextualized by individual stories. These composite stories were being created to be posted on our Instagram. In regard to our page, I had the chance to oversee its relaunching, ultimately being the one to restart the account. We then moved on to crafting a marketing strategy and content plan that would set forth the posts, ideas, and content we would release over the course of the next few months. The timing of this initiative is critical given that this year is the ILF's 25th anniversary, marking a time of reflection on our impact goals in the coming years.
The content plan itself features a mix of posts and reels. Reels are intended to be routes for the public to learn about the ILF, optimally, pointing them to our page. There, we hope to curate a variety of posts that educate viewers about what, where, how, and why the ILF operates. Posts and reels will be a mix of summaries/composites of real stories, interviews and profiles of ILF fellows and lawyers, and informative posts - a sort of "ILF-101."
This project will be the cornerstone assignment I contribute to during my LIA and will enable me to not only apply and develop my social media and content creation skills, but also hopefully give me more insight into the work of our organization, especially through my interactions with our fellows, lawyers, and directors through their interviews.
Another cool learning experience I took part in this past week was the ILF's first "Brown Bag" session, a morning meeting open to anyone in the organization (but specifically catering to interns), where a Foundation expert talks about a key aspect of legal aid. This week, the Foundation's Managing Director, Susan, spoke to us about "Holistic Legal Aid," and broke down what it was along with its relevance to the ILF's mission. I'll have the chance to partake in one more Brown Bag session before the end of my internship.
Visiting the United Nations General Assembly
In addition to having the chance to take part in a two-day UN event earlier this month, this week, I was thrilled to attend the UN's 2026 SDG 16 Conference (Peace, Justice, and Strong Institutions), which was held at the UN Headquarters (HQ) in East Manhattan.
The NYC Haircut Experience
Before going out to the UN HQ, I had to ensure I came with my best, so I visited a local, Dominican-run barbershop near my residence, leaving me with a fresh cut.
Travelling to the HQ has been an ambition of mine, so having the chance to not only visit but also take part as a representative of an ECOSOC organization was a dream come true!
The day started off with travelling to the UN Grounds Pass Office nearby. There, my fellow interns and I submitted our paperwork, were photographed, and received a Grounds Pass, which gave us access to the building and event, and came with some cool perks.
After entering the HQ, we quickly found Conference Room 4, where the event was being held. Similar to my last UN experience, this event was composed of various panels overseen by talented moderators who guided conversations pertaining to SDG 16 and the Rule of Law generally.
The event was opened by a high-ranking group of UN Leaders, including the President of the UN General Assembly, the President of the UN Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC), the UN Deputy Secretary-General, and the Director-General of the International Development Law Organization (IDLO).
Two panelists who really stood out to me both spoke in Panel 3: Partnerships and Collective Action.
Firstly, Geraldine Fraser-Moleketi was the former President of South Africa's Nelson Mandela University, and drew on this experience to argue that ethical institutions require equitable education and genuine partnership. She also gave the stark warning that in a multipolar world where capital can be employed as geopolitical leverage, we must "radically" redefine how our partnerships operate and how we protect the research that guides them. She noted how this applies especially to universities which are the "battlegrounds of political and financial pressure," and reminded the audience that such institutions must remain sovereign institutions and not proxies. This institution-specific dialogue spoke to me, especially as I start my term as a Governor at my home university, where I will need to ensure the integrity of the university is maintained.
Secondly, I was chiefly inspired by Mr. Enzo Romero, a Peruvian bionics researcher who noted how he was initially surprised to be invited to the conference given his background in engineering and robotics research. The connection became much more concrete when he learned that Gaza now has the largest number of child amputees per capita anywhere in the world. He used this opening to redefine peace as not just the absence of war, but the ability for victims to live with dignity after war. In this sense, innovation - his area of expertise - serves the role of ending exclusion, by critically asking who has been forced to adapt to systems that were never designed with them in mind, demographics such as amputees and the disabled. In regard to his speciality, many people in need of prosthetics simply cannot obtain them due to their price or lack of adaptability, despite such tech being able to grant increased confidence, autonomy, and more full participation in family and community life. His innovation begins with listening to users and identifying what serves the broader ambition of fulfilling the critical need of accessibility.
Moreover, I also enjoyed Ms. Jan Beagle's (Director-General of the International Development Law Organization) comments on trust and the role financing plays in nurturing such a foundation. She noted how it is imperative for leaders to be strategic, to ultimately focus on what builds trust at the local level. She also emphasized the need to "follow the money," stressing that rule of law and justice are also matters of financing, and not just political will. Finally, when it comes to these issues, which may not be at the top of the agenda, we must deliberately look for efforts to amplify them at the grassroots level.
I also took note of the words of Mr. Arturo Herrera Gutierrez, the World Bank's Global Director for Governance, who reframed governance by sharing that the goal isn't to prove that government is necessary but rather to prove that better, evidence-based reforms can actually be implemented. Moreover, Ms. Leonie Mutoni, a Coordinator at the Africa Centre of Excellence for Access to Justice, argued that the issue at hand isn't that legal frameworks holding up SDG 16 don't exist - it's that there is a gap of sustained financing for the grassroots and legal aid actors who make those frameworks feasible and impactful. Finally, the Filipino Ombudsman Jesus Crispin Remulla framed anti-corruption efforts and SDG 16 as the work of building governments that strengthen the relationship between states and citizens.
Besides the panels, I enjoyed the opportunity to meet and have lunch with a UNDP Advisor, who I had met at the UN event earlier in the month, and network with various interns. The great thing about being at the HQ was taking in the phenomenal art and exhibits that ornamented the entire building. I was also thrilled to have the chance to enter the General Assembly room - a space I have seen online copious times and never imagined entering.
Outside of the Office
This weekend, I travelled again to Yonkers to stay over at church for the weekend. This time was especially eventful due to the celebrations I had the chance to attend, including a graduation party for the church's high school graduates, and the first birthday of the son of a family friend. Both events gave me ample opportunity to become better acquainted with the church family, make new connections, and enjoy the fellowship. On Sunday, I had the chance to help out with the worship by playing the guitar.
Looking Back
This week has been another fantastic chance to extend the horizons of my learning while having the appreciated privilege of fulfilling my dreams :) Next week, I look forward to returning to the UN HQ for a closed session which I was graciously extended an invite to.