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From the moment they arrived on Columbia's campus in August, the six participants in the Human Rights Advocates Program have had an intensive experience designed to expand their skills and teach them how to raise money and network. They have made countless presentations, met with human rights organizations, been interviewed by the media and students, and studied in classes taught by faculty at the law school, the Mailman School of Public Health and the School of International and Public Affairs.

As their four-month program ended Dec. 9, these members of the 20th class at the Center for the Study of Human Rights prepared to head back to their home countries to put into practice what they have spent the past few months studying.

They represent organizations from India, Indonesia, Liberia, Mexico, the Democratic Republic of Congo and South Florida.

"This experience at Columbia has helped build me up and has broadened my perspective," said Peter Mulbah, an environmental activist from Liberia. "I have a huge wealth of knowledge that I will take back to Liberia, but not before I apply for the master's program here. Getting into the program is one of my dreams." Mulbah has applied to study for the master's degree in environmental science that would permit him to enter the University in September 2009.

The Human Rights Advocates Program, created in 1988, was originally designed to provide opportunities for grassroots leaders to strengthen their skills and work effectively with members of the academic, NGO, policy-making and corporate communities. It was reoriented in 2004 to put human rights into the context of globalization.

"With few exceptions, most advocates leave here feeling strongly compelled to take back what they have learned to help their organizations develop and further their causes," said Stephanie V. Grepo, director of the Human Rights Advocates Program.

Among the issues this year's participants advocate for are the rights of India's Dalit women (considered "untouchables"); the connections between education, trade and local agriculture in Indonesia; environmental justice in Liberia; and people marginalized by their age, sex, gender identity, sexual orientation or HIV/AIDS status in Chiapas, Mexico.

Mulbah took nearly seven years to complete his college degree, taking classes when Liberia was not at war between 1999 and 2003. By the time he finished, he had created an environmental organization that focused on conservation, community and commercial sales of natural resources. When the new Liberian government of President Ellen Johnson-Sirleaf was elected in 2006, Mulbah was invited to work with government officials and national legal experts in the drafting of new forestry and environmental laws.

Peter Rosenblum, co-director of the law school's Human Rights Clinic, says working with advocates is invaluable and the relationship with the advocates has been a "two-way" experience, especially for students, as well as for faculty.

"We usually meet our clients, so-called victims, who are referred from Western NGOs," said Rosenblum. "But when you meet Peter Mulbah from Liberia, there is a culture difference and a professional difference. You meet them in their social, political space, and we have enough time to get to know them very well. This is a very important difference for our students and for professionals, who usually go out in the field to meet and interview and then leave. This experience with the advocates deepens and broadens your understanding of the world."

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