Four Boyd Students Bridging Borders this Summer in Southeast Asia (part one)

Four Boyd School of Law students are among 43 law students from 38 law schools to be accepted into the Bridges Across Borders Southeast Asia summer legal internship program (BABSEA).  Aaron MacDonald ’11 is working in Laos, Jeff Haywood ’10 in Thailand, and Heidi Hauck ’11 and Rebecca Blood ’10 in Cambodia.  Since 2004, BABSEA legal interns have been aiding the struggle to ameliorate the hardships and legal inequities in Southeast Asia. (This is part one of a three-part series of stories, the second of which highlights Aaron MacDonald.)

The Cambodia crew are pictured in their save Boeung Kak Lake T-shirts. Heidi Hauck is second and Rebecca Blood is third from left.

Heidi participates in two sides of the human trafficking issue. Part of her time is devoted to conducting research for the Swedish Institute for Research (SIRSA), where she investigates the legal aid services available to persons suspected, charged, or convicted of human trafficking offenses.  For the most part, her efforts for SIRSA are devoted to research seeking to discover if fair trials and legal services available in Cambodia.

Another part of her time, however, is devoted to working with the Secretariat of the National Task Force (NTF) on Human Trafficking. Her NTF duties provided her an opportunity to meet with Her Excellency Chou Bun Eng, Secretary of State of the Ministry of Interior, to whom she expressed her deep concern for the women and children at high risk of being trafficked into the sex industry.

Stan Starygin, Director of the Swedish Institute of Research for Southeast Asia, and Heidi’s supervisor, at SIRSA, wrote in his evaluation of her work, "I feel privileged to give Heidi the highest grade in each category. These grades reflect the quality and quantity of Heidi's accomplishments during her internship within the component of SIRSA which is under my supervision. I would like to note that I appreciated Heidi's overall work ethic and ability to function in a new and challenging environment. It is equally important to note that these are the highest evaluation grades I have given to any intern throughout my professional career."

Although strongly passionate about human rights, Rebecca at first was, jokingly, not so sure she had made a rationale decision when she noticed, upon entering the border crossing at Poi Pet, that she was being followed by men she described as “shady characters with overgrown pinky nails.”  Admirably unintimidated, she found her passion overcame her worries, and she soon immersed herself in the Stop Evictions Campaign. For years, the Municipality of Phnom Penh has been seeking to evict nearly 150 families living since the early 80s on land known as Group 78 (G78) near the Bassac River. Because they have extensive documentation (including official documents issued by government) to show their continuous possession of the land for much longer than the five years required by law, they assert a right to their land, a right to a fair trial, and a right for just compensation for any government expropriation.

After observing first hand the pain and frustration of families threatened with relocation, Rebecca wrote in her journal, “The issue of forced evictions became more alive in me and made me feel more than any article or documentary on the subject ever made me feel.”  She is hoping to participate in some planned solidarity marches at various communities threatened by evictions and ending at Boeung Kak Lake.