A sensitive and socially conscious woman from New Delhi, India, now 23, I take pride in my empathy for the least fortunate members of our community, especially those that are victims of injustice. For years now, I have looked around me and felt passionate empathy, in particular, with women who suffer from violence and oppression as women, as females. In addition to my native India, I am well read about the plight of women in nearby Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Bangladesh.
XXXX is my first choice for earning the MA Degree in Human Rights Law because of the depth and breadth of your curriculum, and its global nature, which even includes a focus on non-Western and mainly Islamic legal and moral philosophies and legal structures. Earning the MA Degree in Human Rights Law at XXXX will provide me with the optimal opportunity to learn everything that I can about the liberation struggles of women worldwide, their victimization, and their resistance to that victimization. I want to put the undergraduate degree that I have earned in History to work at the service of the dismissal of women, always in search of strategies for tomorrow hidden in the pages of yesterday's struggles.
What I value most is compassion, and I see it as my principal source of strength and motivation, driving me forward each day to prepare myself for a lifetime of service to victims of injustice. I seek a lifetime of service in defending and advocating for human rights, especially the human rights of women and girls. I look forward to intensively cultivating my appreciation for the evolution of notions of human rights and dignity in a historical context. I do so in preparation for a life of activism on behalf of those who suffer and are largely voiceless.
Like Nobel Laureate Amartya Sen, I see hunger, not as a by-product of the unavailability of food; but, instead, as the unavailability of an entitlement of food. Working with an impoverished community underserved in every way, for two years, in Pulprahladpur, New Delhi, I have realized. I have become increasingly concerned about how Indian society, like many other societies of developing countries, ha largely failed at fostering a culture of self-reliance through public education. It pains me deeply to see millions of children in India living in the streets and not attending school, millions of child laborers subject to deadly diseases and early deaths; many men and women as well subjected to various forms of exploitation and even torture.
Earning a degree in history has given me a sophisticated understanding of how society has developed through the ages, especially concerning the position of women as members of caste systems or racial hierarchies. Earning my master's in Human rights will help me to understand better the complex roles of international organizations in uplifting underprivileged communities. I feel strongly that human rights education is our foremost tool for building more just societies. Creating human rights pedagogies and training teachers in this area, as I see it, is the best way to cultivate more tremendous respect for human rights on a global level. I especially look forward to studying how UN organizations can help in fighting human rights violations and encouraging more immense respect for human rights as part of grassroots cultural movements.
I look forward to broadening my understanding of the complexities of human rights violations not only in the context of poverty but also in terrorism, war, and migration.
Completing your program will help me to much better understand the broader historical, the political, social, and moral context of human rights, biases including my own, and how ideology perpetuates injustice. I look forward to listening to many of the world’s most outstanding speakers at the University of London, engaging in national and international debates about human rights, especially in the context of non-Western and developing countries.
Since graduation in 2014, I have been serving as a Fellow with Teach for India and teaching children in a government school for the children of low-income families in an underprivileged community. I also live in this community and have made it my own, getting to know many of the families quite well. I want to continue to think globally for the balance of my professional life, while always staying very busy at the local level, giving my all to the institution that I serve.
The children that I teach have inspired me to think and feel deeply about the human rights of children, in particular, women, and especially migrants and refugees that are particularly vulnerable. My students provide me with a daily injection of hope and a sense of possibility.
I thank you for considering my application.