Welcome to DC
Like Taylor Swift in New York, DC’s been waiting for me. During the first week of my internship with the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, I am enjoying the clean city, convenient public transportation, and many amazing restaurants. After spending last summer in Kampala, Uganda, interning with the USAID SAFE Program, I am ready to learn about the “home office” side of rule of law work.
After moving my things into my summer apartment, I visited Arlington Cemetery, the National Mall, the National Museum of the American Indian, and other landmarks with my family. To avoid the crowds over Memorial Day Weekend, I wandered around Georgetown and stopped by Kramerbooks & Afterwords Café, a cute, busy bookstore at Dupont Circle.
My internship started on Tuesday, and I could not be more excited to spend the summer with ABA ROLI. While my supervisor, Simon Conte, described the layout of the office as “Dilbert-y”, I have many co-interns, and everyone I have spoken with so far has been friendly and approachable. Simon started my work off right away with a comparative research project on the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, comparing its provisions to the laws of other countries. Apparently, Malaysia has the strongest anti-corruption standards, although I will be focusing on the American continent. One of our partners in Sri Lanka, CIABOC, is trying to strengthen their nation’s compliance with UNCAC, particularly with the provisions relating to (1) criminalizing and prosecuting corruption and (2) mutual legal assistance in international corruption cases. So far, I have been compiling the laws and recording citations to relevant provisions. When that is finished, we will write something more substantive to send to CIABOC. It looks like it’s going to be a busy summer!