Connecting Abroad: How I Discovered a Passion for Human Rights Advocacy While Conducting Investigations in Armenia
BY Annie McGovern
I joined our first Zoom meeting a few minutes early, eager to talk with my project advisor Tamar in a smaller group setting and excited to delve further into this conflict that I knew little about. Jim and Ruhan assigned me to my first choice of project - researching human rights abuses that occurred throughout and following the most recent war between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the disputed territory of Nagorno-Karabakh. In preparation for our first meeting, Tamar had my teammates and me visit a number of sites that provided background on the conflict and outlined the timeline of events. Easy enough, I thought. After introducing ourselves, however, Tamar tasked us with describing every crucial moment of the conflict from memory since its emergence in the late 1980s. Diego, Kalyani, and I weren’t even able to remember the first notable event and quickly realized the amount of time, attention, and dedication this project would require.
Fast forward just three months and I’m spending my senior year spring break on a fully-funded trip to Yerevan, Armenia to engage in supervised human rights fact-finding and interviewing. Unsurprisingly, feelings of apprehension bubbled to the surface as I flew to Armenia. Was I ready for this? Simultaneously, though, I felt confident in my ability to engage with victims and witnesses of human rights abuses in an empathetic and educated manner. I also knew that my yearlong training with the University Network of Human Rights prepared me. My courses with Jim, Ruhan, Thomas, and Tamar were filled with practical exercises that provided a glimpse into common on-the-ground scenarios as well as lectures on the history of human rights and best advocacy techniques. My weekly project-specific meetings bolstered my understanding of this decades-long conflict thanks to the expertise of my advisors and the knowledge of our team members from Harvard Law School and Yale. Despite my apprehension about what lay ahead, I felt I was ready.
Each day in Armenia consisted of a whirlwind of interviews that left me simultaneously emotionally exhausted and exhilarated. I was no longer scouring the internet for news coverage on post-ceasefire abuses, but looking directly into the eyes of a soldier describing the brutal torture he endured as a prisoner of war detained in Azerbaijan. The young man recounted memories that were so traumatizing that he had never even been able to share them with his mother. Our team had to brainstorm questions that respected this individual’s privacy but also provided us with the evidence we needed for our report. The enduring and pervasive impact of this war finally began to sink in.
On the second evening of our trip, we visited the home of a family with a missing son. A solemn couple greeted us at the door to their apartment. With the aid of interpreters, we listened to the parents describe how their son, a soldier in the war, went missing the day the 44 Day War began. Only 19 when he left to serve, the son called his parents and younger brother every day from the field, until September 27th. The family has not been able to contact him since.
Even though I couldn’t speak her language, I kept my gaze on the mom as she tearily shared her story. I was explicitly taught by my human rights professors to always speak and listen to our interviewee rather than the translators. In that moment, it just felt natural to pay attention to the missing soldier’s mother as she cried, frustrated and resentful that nothing had yet been done. I eventually began crying too, completely struck by her raw emotion. Later, as the parents set out slices of fruit and made us coffee, we looked at photos of their two sons. I felt grateful, a feeling that would emerge again and again over the course of the trip, that this couple was willing to be so vulnerable and honest with me and my team. Our interviewees shared stories of experiences that I am confident I will never have to endure, but they still trusted me to empathize and advocate for them. Diego and I would debrief for hours following these interviews. We discussed the things we learned, the feelings we were left with, and often shared that, despite the heaviness of the material, we couldn’t imagine ourselves doing anything else with our life.
Now we’re back to meeting once a week virtually and I continue to find the project gratifying and energizing. I look forward to our Wednesday night meetings and truly enjoy working alongside the Harvard Law students and Darryl, a Yale student earning his master’s in Public Policy in Global Affairs. Our diverse team is composed of individuals that possess knowledge and skills from a variety of academic disciplines, which has been extremely beneficial. While Diego and I were on the ground in Armenia, we were able to send data points to members of the team adept at data analysis or ask individuals to conduct supplemental desk research whenever we needed reminders on the details of the conflict. I’m also considering applying to law school and working alongside Harvard Law students has provided a unique glimpse in what that experience can be like.
The University Network for Human Rights presented me with a unique and life-altering experience. Engaging with directly affected communities and learning how to advocate effectively in real time is a skill that needs to be practiced, not just discussed. And if you need proof that I feel truly fulfilled by this work, just ask my friends and family and they’ll tell you that they now know more about post-Soviet Armenia history than they ever would have imagined.