Meet Marilena
Marilena majored in Governance and graduated in the pioneer LAS cohort in 2016. After UCF, she enrolled in a Master of Law (LL.M.) in International Criminal Law at the Irish Center for Human Rights, NUI Galway. She graduated with distinction in 2018, and is now an independent human rights consultant based in London. She is commissioned by the UK Independent Uyghur Tribunal to manage the secretariat and investigate China’s alleged international crimes against Uyghurs; a Turkic minority group. Furthermore, she assists an NGO in establishing a case for state responsibility regarding a minority group’s persecution in the Middle East, and drafts proposals for academic publications on international criminal law’s evolving nature for the Nuremberg Academy. Marilena is also a contributor to Justice in Conflict – a blog discussing current affairs in international criminal justice.
“During my final year at UCF, I became interested in international law and the mechanisms designed to protect those most vulnerable from gross human rights violations. I wanted to understand how the international legal order is maintained, and what challenges a self-proclaimed universal set of norms face in an era of increased armed conflict around the world. The study of international crimes, such as genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, didn’t feature in the LAS curriculum. However, at UCF, every student is given the academic freedom to create opportunities for in-depth study following topics of interest. I wrote my bachelor thesis on the classification of human trafficking as a crime against humanity, rendering international prosecution.
After I graduated from the Irish Center for Human Rights, studying part-time, I wanted to gain some litigation experience. In 2019, I relocated to The Hague and became part of a defence team at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). I learned how to build a case, analysing fast trenches of evidence pertaining to Serb paramilitary operations in the ethnic conflict that most associate with the Srebrenica massacre of 1995. After collecting my fair share of job rejections in 2019, I applied to the International Bar Association Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI), where I eventually landed my first job in early 2020. I advanced projects preserving the judiciary and the legal profession’s independence, ultimately strengthening the rule of law in countries where democracy is under immense threat.
In autumn 2020, the opportunity arose to work for the newly established Uyghur Tribunal. Thanks to an incredible collective effort, we are currently compiling what is probably the most extensive evidence database relating to the human rights situation of Uyghurs in Xinjiang. I am very grateful for this unique experience as there is no other organisation investigating the alleged human rights abuses independently and impartially. Five years after graduation, I arrived at a destination. However, if I learned one thing along the way, then that the human rights field is ridiculously competitive, job opportunities are impossible to predict, and nothing is ever set in stone.”