Georgina Elliott

After receiving an email from the law school regarding volunteer opportunities at the Mental Disability Advocacy Center, I applied for an internship, was accepted and flew out to Budapest for August 2009.

In 2007 MDAC lodged a collective complaint against Bulgaria to the European Committee of Social Rights in which the Committee found that children with disabilities residing in government run institutions do not have an effective right to education which is due to a disability-based discrimination. This situation was a violation of Article 17(2) of the Revised European Social Charter (right to education), alone and in conjunction with Article E (non-discrimination). The horrific and inhumane conditions that these children are subjected to were shown on a BBC documentary "Abandoned Bulgarian Children”. My task was to write a first draft report on the progress that the government had made since the Committee’s decision. The final report was then presented to the Bulgarian Government and relevant independent actors later this year. This required me to read through documents relating to and including the ECSR decision in order to asses the extent to which the government has taken steps to comply with the Committee decision. It is amazing how much you can learn in such a short space of time- applying law in the ‘real world’ is slightly different than writing essays! Unfortunately, but not surprisingly, the evidence is that the Bulgarian Government have not complied with the ESCR decision and thousands of children are still being denied the right to education. The situation is textbook example of the difficulties in the implementation of basic human rights.

My time here was AWESOME. Wandering the streets at 10pm without a bed on my first night was a little daunting (self inflicted-should have definitely taken the advice to sort out your accommodation BEFORE you arrive) but I soon settled in and have had a brilliant time. The opportunity to gain hands on experience in a field of law that really interests me was invaluable. In comparison to usual work experience nightmares you hear, I haven’t sat around like a lemon all day, photocopying endless sheets of paper or filing out time sheets, in fact it has been the opposite. But it hasn’t been all work…..! Often after work we would go out for drinks and the weekend give you time to explore the beautiful city of Budapest. Luckily I was here for the Sziget festival which included a British stag party, the Klaxons, Hungarian beer, a run in with the Hungarian police (don’t try and skip a tube fair, the whole ‘I’m a law student, I know my rights’ doesn’t work), the Editors, more beer, sun burn and Placebo. I was also here for the national bank holiday which, consisted of a huge street party along the Danube whilst the Red Bull Air Race was run, fireworks, pretzels, pickled cabbage and beer (seems to be a common theme in Hungarian celebrations!) And if you had ever felt that you had seen all of Budapest (which would be pretty hard, there’s masses to do) travel is cheap here so you can always pop on a train to Vienna, only a couple of hours away.

I really can’t stress how much I enjoyed my time here - I gained ‘real’ experience, lived in a foreign city and have worked with people from all different walks of life whom otherwise I would never have had met. During my placement there were 3 other interns all in or going into different fields relating to law. The most significant thing that I’ve taken away from my time at MDAC is that there are so many job opportunities available in the legal sector that I hadn’t considered before now. Ever since Freshers week I have been bombarded by corporate law firms which narrowed my view into thinking that the only route I should take is to apply for vac schemes, do your LPC then complete a training contract. Getting a job with a large corporate city firm seemed to be the be all and end all. In fact, I now realize that that is the last thing I want to do. For me personally I want to be able to use and apply my law degree in a field that really matters to me and if possible make a REAL impact on people’s lives such as working for an NGO such as MAC.