When life gave the Northwestern University Conference on Human Rights lemons, they skipped over lemonade and went straight to Turkey.
NUCHR had planned on traveling to Cairo over Spring Break but decided to move the trip after riots and revolution took over the city last quarter. They chose to go to Istanbul, Turkey, when they found out the Global Engagement Summit was already going.
“We were really lucky,” trip attendee and NUCHR executive board member Arielle Sullivan said.
According to trip leader Amanda Laabs, NUCHR was able to put together the trip quickly because an employee at the Buffett Center for International and Comparative Studies who is originally from Turkey was able to provide various contact persons.
“We thought it would be a really good way to get the trip planned in such a short amount of time,” the SESP junior and former Daily staffer said.
The trip’s purpose was to connect with the theme of this year’s NUCHR conference, Human Rights in Transit: Issues of Forced Migration, which focused on issues relating to migrants and refugees.
It’s a tough topic to explore, Laabs said. A university in Turkey that the group worked with set up meetings with the leaders of human rights organizations and government agencies.
“The nature of refugees is that it’s hard to interact with them as a population,” Laabs said. “The nature of our activity was mainly exposure- and learning-related. The way that it was set up by the university was really well done. It basically set us up with organizations that had really different views.”
Before and during their trip, group members blogged for NU-based student travel site The195.com that allows students to write and share their experiences as they study abroad.
Sullivan, a SESP sophomore, said the trip gave her a new perspective on how many refugees the U.S. takes in. Sullivan also noted that many people don’t realize how many refugees are allowed to come into the country.
Sullivan said the trip was neither the beginning nor the end of her penchant for going abroad.
“This wasn’t my first trip abroad, and it won’t be my last,” she said. “I think that everyone on the trip got inspired to keep traveling.”
