Issue 1, December 2007

Law alumni runs legal aid for community in sudan

Kirsten Hagon commenced her Law/ International Relations degree at Bond in 961. The recipient of a VC Scholarship, she still remembers debating with one of the interviewing professors about the UN. More than a decade down the track, a great amount of respect exists between the two and they remain in email contact today. Bond’s accelerated program enabled Kirsten to do many different things and still complete a combined degree in four years. She did an internship at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade; took a semester off in India doing volunteer work and another for the international rounds of the Philip C Jessup International Law mooting competition in Washington DC, after which she travelled in the USA.

After graduation Kirsten took advantage of many career opportunities. She worked for Mallesons Stephen Jaques Solicitors in Melbourne; the Australian Mission to the UN General Assembly in New York as a Youth Representative; Mallesons in Brisbane as the Pro Bono Coordinator; and she set up the Refugee and Immigration Legal Support Project (RAILS) for the Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House (QPILCH). She then completed an international law LLM at Cambridge; an internship with UNHCR in Geneva; volunteered with African and Middle Eastern Refugee Assistance (AMERA) in Cairo; worked with UNHCR in Cairo; and now she has just completed a year with the UNDP in Darfur, Sudan as a Rule of Law officer.

Kirsten (left), With colleague at his pre-wedding party

Kirsten has always been an advocate for the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers in Australia and throughout the world. This passion, combined with her studies in Arabic and her work with Sudanese refugees in Egypt, makes her well-equipped for her most recent role. One activity in which Kirsten has been involved was running a legal aid network for Sudanese lawyers providing legal assistance to displaced and disadvantaged people in the communities of Sudan. The UNDP Rule of Law program also educates people in Darfur about their legal rights, and undertakes training and capacity-building for judges, prosecutors, lawyers, police, paralegals and the African Mission in Sudan (AMIS). Kirsten worked predominantly on gender-based violence under criminal and Sharia (Islamic) law, focussing on rape and domestic violence. In this capacity she ran workshops on women’s rights for community members, paralegals and women’s health

A group of children in one of the camps that Kirsten has worked in.

Kirsten and her colleagues face many difficulties, not the least of which is the general lack of security in Darfur and, as a result, the lack of access to many areas outside of major cities. Despite the risks humanitarian workers take living in a conflict-affected area such as Darfur, as expatriates they are fortunate, because they are able to leave the country should  they need or wish to. However, they are inspired by the courage of the nationals they work with, who take far greater risks, given the highly politicised nature of their work and the fact that they are not able to simply leave the country should the situation become too dangerous.
Of course she misses some things that we take for granted on the Gold Coast, such as water! There’s plenty of sand, but no oceans lapping the edges of Darfur and no swimming pools, just dry creek beds (“Wadis”) for nine months of the year. Sudan is also a ‘dry country’, meaning no alcohol, so there are no bars either and minimal avenues for stress relief.  What made life easier for Kirsten was the presence of friends and colleagues, and the great support they give to each other, as well as some surprising extra-curricular activities, including regular salsa classes and Friday brunches (Friday being the day of rest for Northern Sudan).