In February 2023, I was offered the incredible opportunity to intern at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) headquarters in Geneva. Working at the UN had been a long-term career goal of mine, and I was extremely excited to get started, especially since this would be the first time, in living memory, that I had moved abroad. LEAP helped with the start-up costs of moving to Geneva in July, just ten days after my graduation ceremony.

My role in UNHCR was in the Asylum, Systems and Determination Section (ASD) which sat in the Division of International Protection. This section had three main functions: supporting governments to improve their asylum registration systems, coordinating refugee status determination operations in UNHCR offices around the world and providing country information and guidance. My role was in the country information side; we would research persecution happening globally and send this to refugee status decision-makers, who could use this information in assessing an asylum-seeker’s application. We also provided country guidance, which are long documents describing the situation in a particular country, and outlining particular profiles who may be eligible for refugee status. For example, during my internship, we worked on a long document on Haiti, for which I contributed chapters on journalists and media workers, persons with disabilities and persons opposing the government. These documents, once published, could be used by asylum agencies across the globe to inform their decisions on asylum-seekers’ applications. One of the aspects that really struck me during my internship was how I was contributing to extremely important work that may help an asylum-seeker gain refugee status. Making meaningful contributions to support marginalised populations has always been an aspiration, and I have really valued the opportunity to do so through this internship.

I have also been able to experience a wide range of tasks aside from my main duties, for example, I worked on the relaunch of the Refworld website, the UNHCR’s database for law and policy. This included handing out themed cupcakes to fellow members of staff in the building atrium, and again, it was very rewarding to witness the product of my contributions on the website (for example, I wrote the Help page and organised a lot of the thematic areas). Furthermore, I was able to attend a few meetings in the 54th session of the UN Human Rights Council, where I could witness in-person the debates between countries on a range of human rights issues, including the issue of arbitrary detention and human rights in Myanmar. Since I was young, I debated in the Human Rights Council in Model UN conferences local to my area; seeing the debates in person was a monumental occasion that I will never forget.

Another enriching experience was volunteering at the 2023 Global Refugee Forum (GRF). Every four years, UNHCR hosts states, NGOs, refugee-led organisations, sports organisations, businesses and other international organisations to discuss issues pertaining to refugees and most importantly, make commitments to improve on refugee-related issues by the next GRF. This can include topics such as child protection, resettlement and financial inclusion. At the GRF, I greeted and ushered high-level delegates, and managed the timings for the plenary sessions. This was an incredible experience to view how large international conferences are organised, and I was extremely lucky to intern at the same time as the event was conducted. At the end of the event, the High Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, gave thanks to all the forcibly displaced and stateless people who attended the conference, which was a really inspirational moment as we applauded the empowerment and inclusion of refugees in their own upliftment. A range of speakers took to the podium at the GRF, among them, Cate Blanchett, King Abdullah II of Jordan and Yusra Mardini, a Syrian refugee who swam from Turkey to Greece to seek asylum in Europe and who swam in the 2016 Rio Olympics in the refugee Olympics team. It was incredible to listen to her speak, especially after watching The Swimmers on Netflix – a film based on her and her sister’s lives.

In Geneva, I was able to meet an incredible range of fascinating people. I made life-long friends within the intern community at UNHCR, who came from all over the world and had such an interesting range of life experiences from runway modelling for Vogue, to training birds in South America. I was also surrounded by an incredible team who supported my learning and career development and also shared their own experiences, including from working in the field. My time in Geneva was some of the best months of my life due to all the amazing experiences I had and the people I met. Working for the UN had always been my dream, and even if I never come back into the system, I am so thankful to have had the opportunity to fulfil my dream, even if for just a short while.