Ciara Flatley

My six week internship with MDAC has provided me with the opportunity to gain an insight into the internal workings of a proactive and busy NGO. The beginning of my internship coincided with the start of Summer School with this year’s focus in particular on strategic litigation. I was extremely lucky in that I was given the opportunity to attend any classes which were relevant to strategic litigation and also I was able to interact with academics and professionals from all over the world. During the course of the summer school we visited Ray of Hope institution in Budapest. This was a significant visit in that it provided me with first-hand knowledge of the life of patients within an institution and the conditions of detention. Despite having read many articles on detention and institutionalisation it was not until I witnessed it myself that I truly understood the immediate and complete need for de-institutionalisation.

In terms of projects undertaken during my time as an intern I was lucky in that not only was I able to complete specific projects which will hopefully benefit the strategic litigation department but I was also in a position to do short projects and research for other departments of MDAC. I completed case summaries of ECtHR case-law which included cases which focused on detention/ill-treatment and torture/disability/institutions etc. 

Since 2009 MDAC has been carrying out work in Africa. MDAC has been working with those based in Africa to develop strategic litigation programmes. One of my main projects involved researching reports and articles from a range of sources (including CAT, SPT, NGO’s etc) and providing a detailed report on what was the current climate/attitude towards torture and ill-treatment in Kenya. Once again, this project was a real eye-opener as it highlighted to me that even in 2012 gross neglect and ill-treatment is still prevalent world-wide.

As an intern at MDAC I was welcomed entirely to the team from the first day. I was offered a unique opportunity and I am grateful to have been given the chance to help in some way with the work of MDAC.

Ciara Flatley