Ian Scott Public Interest Internship Program - Osgoode Hall Law ...

Jon O’Kane, Osgoode Hall Law School, Class 2013
Recipient of funding through the Ian Scott Public Internship Program
Report: Foundation for Human Rights Initiative (FHRI), Kampala, Uganda
The Ian Scott Public Interest Fellowship has redirected my life’s trajectory, for the better. This
past summer, I worked as a legal research intern the Foundation for Human Rights Initiative
(FHRI) in Kampala, Uganda. I came to Osgoode to explore the many facets of what a career in
social justice could be and this opportunity finally gave me the chance to see hands on what
lawyering internationally can be like.
My project highlighted how quickly the needs of third world NGOs can change. Initially, I had
prepared to work with FHRI drafting a report on their national election of February 2011, auditing
how consistently it complied with domestic and international standards. Instead, my project
transformed into a broader assessment of the state of the right to fair trial in Uganda. The FHRI
produces two research reports annually, each focusing on a rights assessment for one aspect of
the country. I was given incredible flexibility in designing the framework, researching the
content, and then writing the first copy of the document. To do this, I worked primarily with
another intern, with a support network of the entire NGO. The fair trial report, although aimed at
providing recommendations to government actors to implement change, was more generally
written for an audience of local and international groups which would benefit from the compiled
information, interviews, and recommendations.
Therefore, I began my summer experience by doing statutory analysis of the current state of the
law itself. I am now delightfully familiar with the Ugandan Trial and Indictments Act and Prisons
Act, for example. With a modern Constitution first introduced in 1995, there were still some
inconsistencies between legislation and the Constitution that began the basis of my
recommendations for areas of public interest litigation.
Once the legislation and case law had been reviewed, the analysis turned to measuring how the
current state of the law was being implemented in practice. More pressingly, we wanted to
determine why practice may be inconsistent with law and provide recommendations to remedy it.
At was at this point that my internship became fascinating. I set off to explore the real, on the
ground pace of Uganda and met with countless stakeholders across the justice sector. The
initial research was carried out in Kampala, where I interviewed state attorneys, inspected police
stations and prisons, and met with police officers and suspects. I saw vastly different normative
framework about the role of policing and prisons than both in Canada and even the Uganda
legislation. The challenges faced were a blend of attitudinal approaches to crime and resources
problems being spread across the country. What drew me into my work so quickly was how
surprised I was that myself and another international intern could adapt to the frame of reference
of the Ugandan system and parse our way through the challenges to get to the root of some
issues.
The urban situation, with respect to fair trial, was just one depiction of the justice system. My
partner and I proposed we travel to rural regions and carry out similar assessments to compare.
FHRI warmly endorsed the idea and I travelled to Northern Uganda, where research had been
minimal in wake of the 20-year civil war which had ended only two years ago. I didn’t know what
to expect, but after a few bus rides, a tightly packed taxi, and four hours on the back of a truck, I
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