22-year-old Jodie Warren is the youngest member of the team: “I really enjoy it so it doesn’t feel like I’m doing work.”
Law student Kathryn Young leapt at the chance to work on the case: “This is
a chance to actually do something.”
When you enrol in a law degree at uni you know you’re in for a hard slog.
You know there’ll be a lot of long nights in the library before your legal
talents get to see the light of day, let alone a real case.
And when it comes to international human rights law the odds of seeing a
real case are even slimmer. Every now and again you hear about human rights
cases popping up in the news and they are long and drawn out things. But
right now on the Gold Coast a landmark human rights case is on the boil.
And three Griffith University law students are in the thick of it.
For 28-year-old student Kathryn Young, the case has become thoroughly
engrossing. “When you find yourself at 10 o’clock on a Friday night going
through torture case after torture case and looking at what’s acceptable
ways to kill people and what’s acceptable force…You know, people having
their eyes popped out because they were beaten so badly. You just think,
‘wow’.”
The case relates to the torture of a Chinese woman now living in Sydney.
Zhang Cui Ying is one of many Chinese nationals persecuted during the reign
of former president Jiang Zemin for their involvement in the spiritual
movement Falun Gong. What makes her case unique is that it’s the first to be
brought by an individual.
The landmark case has attracted the likes of Gold Coast Criminal lawyer
Chris Nyst and eminent human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson of
“Hypotheticals” fame. It’s not everyday a lawyer takes on the UN. Certainly
not everyday students get to work on a case that will end up in the UN Human
Rights Commission in Geneva.
The uniqueness of the opportunity is not lost on Ms Young. “Oh my God,
there’s an international human rights case on the Gold Coast. This is a
chance to actually do something. And then when I found out what it was –
China. Okay, it’s China, it’s pretty big. And then I found out I’d be
working with Chris Nyst who I’d just heard of from the Pauline Hanson case.
I thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be pretty interesting and exciting’. And
then it was like Geoffrey Robertson who I’ve been a fan of since 10 years
now. I know all his ‘Hypotheticals’ off by heart.”
High profile lawyer Chris Nyst has 25 years of experience in criminal law to
his name but, even for him, this case represents a career highlight. “These
sort of things are unusual for any firm. I mean, you don’t go to the United
Nations every day. In the course of a career you might only become involved
in two or three of these cases.”
It was Nyst who initiated the students’ involvement in Ms Zhang’s case. He
says it’s a win-win situation. “The students bring some energy and passion
to these things. They bring certainly up-to-date research skills and so
that’s great from a client’s point of view. And from the students’ point of
view, to actually have exposure to the practical side of law and be able to
put those skills to work is a fantastic thing.”
This is not your average work experience. The students are far from the
sidelines. They are integral to the team, their latest task the formulation
of a dossier of human rights abuses throughout the world.
At 22, Jodie Warren is the youngest member of team. “The hardest part I’ve
found is once we’re given a task to go out and find exactly the parts that
are relevant, what we’re looking for. There’s just so much material out
there.” But, in contrast to uni assignments, motivation is never a problem
when it comes to the Zhang case. “The process is long and it takes a lot of
hours but at the same time when you’re doing it you know in the back of your
mind that it’s for a good cause and the work that we do is helping someone.”
“It can be difficult. Exams are coming up now so it’s hard to try to find
the time. For me mostly it’s at night time in the library doing research.
But I really enjoy it so for me it doesn’t feel like I’m doing work.”
Ms Young concurs. “The really fun bits are trying to find ways to actually
get this case to be prosecuted and something to be done. The really
disturbing bits are looking at the pictures of people who’ve been beaten to
death. That hasn’t been very fun.”
Certainly the lessons learned around the boardroom with Chris Nyst can’t be
replicated within the four walls of a lecture theatre. Ms Warren articulates
perhaps the greatest lesson learned so far. “I’ve basically learned that
there’s a big gap between law and practice – especially in the field of
international law. What countries say they are going to do when they sign on
and ratify treaties is usually a lot different to what they actually do in
real life. International law, especially human rights law, is basically just
a matter of politics. Sometimes states won’t adher to human rights law if
it’s not politically expedient or politically in their interests.”
Ms Young has also noticed a stark contrast between international law and
domestic law. “You get really sad sometimes and you get really upset that it
is going to take so long. But I’ve learnt so much about the processes of the
UN, how to get something through the ICJ – is it possible on a political
level? You know, we’ve just had the chairman of China out here. That affects
everything.
“It’s not like going to court where you’ve got a judge there and a police
force to back it up. You’re dealing with people on an international stage
and it’s all politics and people with guns. American can do whatever they
want, so can China. So it’s been really amazing.”
Chris Nyst cannot speak highly enough of the students. “These students are
really the best of the best. They have grown enormously. You see a scenario
where the students come in a little bit tentative because they really don’t
know, ‘Well, am I going to be of any value here at all?’ And when you
understand it’s like building a house – you just start with one brick and
you put another brick on top of it. As they see that process and they
understand, ‘Well, I can put that brick on top of there,’ it helps them to
blossom as contributors in the team.”
Ms Warren says the case has changed her outlook personally as well as
professionally. “I think it’s made me appreciate being an Australian. I
think sometimes a lot of Australians take for granted the rights and
opportunities we have. You just have to look at what’s happened to Miss
Zhang in China to realise we live in a great country although we have our
own problems as well. We just have to appreciate that we won’t be hauled off
and tortured as is the common practice in some countries.”
“It’s really good to see that we take the forefront. If we can help and
inspire other people to see that you don’t have to torture people, you don’t
have to have oppressive regimes. I mean we have a Falun Gong centre down the
road and it’s not doing any damage to anyone.”
Golden Opportunity
Gold Coast law students, working with lawyer Chris Nyst, are taking on China
in the UN. ABC Coast FM’s Jane Cowan investigated.
Posting date: 19/Nov/2003
Original article date: 18/Nov/2003
Category: Media Report
