UN Associate Protection Officer David Rod (’12) Reports on the Status of Nepal

Building on Opportunity

Rod has built an extraordinary career helping international refugee populations in only a few years since his graduation from BU Law. He first became interested in forced migration after learning about the Sanctuary Movement, a religious and political effort to provide shelter and protection to Central Americans fleeing civil conflict in the 1980s. The pursuit of that interest brought him to BU Law, where he took full advantage of the clinical and externship opportunities available to students.

“My father is a lawyer, and a part of me always thought I would go into law,” Rod says. “But I first became more serious about pursuing a legal career while studying in El Salvador through a program that focused heavily on public service and social justice. I volunteered with marginalized communities, but felt like there was so little I could do to really help. I came back wanting to develop a skill set I could use to have a more concrete impact through public service. Law provided that avenue.”

Rod chose BU Law for its demonstrated commitment to public interest initiatives. In particular, he was drawn to the Public Interest Project and the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic (now split into the International Human Rights Clinic and the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic).

In law school, Rod found that the passion of his professors had a strong impact on his early experiences as a law student. “I was fortunate enough to have classes with Professor Pettit in my 1L year,” he says. “He possesses this pure, unabashed love of the law, which I found truly infectious.”

It was Professor Akram, though, who perhaps had the greatest impact on Rod’s career. Now director of the International Human Rights Clinic, Akram served as Rod’s mentor in the Asylum and Human Rights Clinic and for his Semester-in-Practice (SiP) with the UNHCR in Geneva. “Professor Akram taught me many of the legal skills I use on a daily basis,” he says, “but the most valuable lesson I learned from her was to stay upbeat. Her mantra of ‘onward and upward!’ got me through many stresses as a student attorney, and has stayed with me in my career. I doubt I would have lasted in this field for more than a year or two if not for those conversations.”

Rod was the first student to take advantage of BU Law’s then newly formed partnership with the UNHCR, in Geneva. He interned for six months with the Human Rights Liaison Unit, monitoring Treaty Bodies, the Human Rights Council, and the Universal Periodic Review mechanism. He also picked up ad hoc assignments from staff throughout the Division of International Protection.

“Focusing on one area of law day in, day out vastly improved my understanding of humanitarian, human rights, and refugee law,” Rod says. “And staying for six months rather than a summer internship’s three gave me an opportunity to set myself apart. The UN system relies on a massive contingent of interns, which makes standing out difficult. Becoming a bit more established in the office and having a chance to further prove myself certainly helped me move from an intern into a staff position.”

From his internship in Geneva, Rod was offered a one-year post with the UNHCR’s regional office in Bangkok, Thailand. He left directly from Geneva, and took a year off from his course work to pursue the opportunity after being granted a special waiver by the UNHCR to work without his JD.

Onward and Upward

From Thailand, Rod returned to BU Law to complete his degree. He was awarded one of the School’s Public Service Fellowships following his graduation in 2012. Maura Kelly, former director of the Career Development Office, introduced him to Asylum Access, an international nonprofit working for refugee rights in Africa, Asia, and Latin America. Rod worked for their regional office in Ecuador, providing client services to refugees and asylum-seekers, and brushing up on his Spanish.

“Getting your foot in the door of the humanitarian sector can be a challenge, and the Public Service Fellowship provided a vital entry point into the field,” Rod says. “Humanitarian NGOs usually lack the resources to train up recent grads. The fellowship helped smooth my transition from law school and build my CV enough to show potential employers I was ready to work.”

And work he did. Rod was quickly hired by St. Andrew’s Refugee Service, an organization that provides services to improve the quality of life of refugees living in Cairo, Egypt. He held the position for six months before the UNHCR recruited him to his current position in Nepal.

When asked about the advice he would offer to students interested in international human rights work, Rod stressed the importance of learning another language as well as taking advantage of practical opportunities. “Use your time at BU Law to develop a solid foundation in practical legal skills,” he says. “Taking advantage of the clinical and SiP programs positioned me to hit the ground running as soon as I graduated.”

*The opinions expressed in this article are personal and do not necessarily reflect the position of UNHCR.