This week we shine our spotlight on the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission and the very important work they do with gay and lesbian rights issues around the world. For this spotlight we interviewed director of programs Marianne Møllmann. Ms. Møllmann previously was a senior policy advisor with Amnesty International’s International Secretariat in London where she focused on freedom of expression and sexual rights issues, and a women’s rights researcher and advocate with Human Rights Watch in New York. Ms. Møllmann specializes in sexual rights, reproductive rights, women in conflict, economic rights, and anti-discrimination. Ms. Møllmann has lived and worked in several countries and continents. She is the former co-coordinator of the Women’s Working Group of the International Network for Economic Social and Cultural Rights and the former executive director of the Network in Solidarity with the People of Guatemala (NISGUA). Ms. Møllmann holds an LL.M. in International Human Rights Law from Essex University and speaks fluent Spanish, French, and Danish.
Progressive Lawyer: Hello. Please introduce yourself and describe your role in IGLHRC.
Marianne Møllmann: My name is Marianne Møllmann, and I am director of programs at IGLHRC. That means I head up our UN advocacy, and support our 4 regional coordinators as they lead their programs in the regions of Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean, and the Middle East.
PL: Why was your organization started? What issues does it confront?
MM: For nearly 25 years, the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission has been working hand-in-hand with activists in the Global South to support, strengthen, promote and expand the movement for a more just and safe world. IGLHRC is the only LGBT organization based in the United States that is dedicated solely to working with frontline activists who are seeking to change discriminatory laws, stop violence and promote human rights for everyone, everywhere.
PL: What services does your organization offer? Who are its primary clients/audience?
MM: We are first and foremost an advocacy organization: we seek to change the laws, policies, and systems that justify abuse or discrimination against persons because of their real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity. We work with national and local LGBT organizations to produce solid human rights documentation that can substantiate this advocacy, and to target change makers at the national, regional, and international levels. In many ways, we are our own audience: the issues we work on, affect all of us. That said, our main focus is to use external levers–such as the United Nations human rights machinery, or bilateral relationships between countries–to push for change in global south countries.
PL: How do you utilize the law to further your organizational goals?
MM: The law is both a tool for change in our work, and in many cases the focus for what we want to change in the first place. As a human rights organization, we base our positions and advocacy on voluntarily accepted international obligations, and we analyze national laws to see how they compare to these obligations.
PL: What role do legal professionals play in your organization?
MM: It is not mandatory to have a law degree to work at IGLHRC, but, as in other human rights organizations, it certainly helps to know and understand the legal process to do the work. We often have legal fellows to help us draft legal briefs or papers. I read through all of our submissions with that legal eye.
PL: Do you offer any internships or volunteer opportunities?
MM: To be honest, it is hard to get the work done without interns. In the summer, our office virtually doubles, as that’s when we have the larger group of students working with us to push out projects that may have been postponed to that time, for just that reason. We accept interns throughout the year, though, and generally engage interns in finite specific projects which we find is more helpful for us and most enjoyable for them. (Information and career opportunities with IGLHRC can be found here. ed)
PL: How would a legal professional pursue a career with your organization? What advice would you give to a law student or legal professional who would be interested in this type of law?
MM: I think it depends on what kind of task you enjoy doing. There is a strong need for legal professionals who can help with discrimination and abuse in this country as legal aid officers, for example. There is also a strong need for people who understand the law, who can develop policy proposals that make sense in terms of delivering on actual entitlements and rights. And then there is the advocacy that we are doing, which is based on the law, but where a legal background isn’t mandatory. I would say, look around for the kind of job you think you’d like, then contact a person who already has that kind of position and see if they accept an invitation for coffee. Ask them what their day is like–and if you think you still want the job, ask them how they got there. There is no one path, and no one way to support human rights for all.
PL: How do you balance your work life with your private life?
MM: I think this is a huge challenge for anyone in a public interest job, and I can’t say that I get it right. I carve out pockets of time that are sacred–like my time with my daughter in the morning, or spending time with my partner on Sundays. I consciously aim at a 35-hour week in my planning–I am European, you know–even though I am quite aware getting there would require a culture shift in the movement as a whole. I do think that we have a horrible tendency to glorify burn-out in the human rights movement generally. I actually had a colleague from another organization once tell me that I couldn’t be a very hard worker since I had a hobby! To be honest, I have several hobbies that I take very seriously, including sailing and sewing. When I sail or sew, I do not look at my email or think about work, and I believe I am a more efficient advocate because of it.
PL: Outside of your organization, what issues are you particularly passionate about?
MM: I am deeply saddened by the prison system–or industry–in this country, on so many levels: the unapologetic racism inherent in mandatory minimum sentences and in the grafting and implementation of drug laws; the privatized prisons where human beings are turned into profit margins; the punitive nature of our criminal justice setup. I think we are destroying, rather than protecting, our society by insisting on a system that values punishment over rehabilitation and healing. My daughter is teaching me to be more of an environmentalist: there are many things I do because I grew up with them–commuting by bike, bringing my own bags to the supermarket, etc–but she is teaching me the value of recycling more broadly and the need for environmental activism.
PL: What do you think the role of law and lawyers should be in society?
MM: To me, the law are the rules we need to live together in dignity. It needs to express our commitment to and respect for each other, and our contract in living together as a group. When the result of the law is lack of dignity, lack of respect, the law needs to change. In that sense, lawyers are the architects, or the engineers, if you will, of those rules. We design, monitor, and fix them, when needed. The law is the only thing that ever made sense to me as political process, in part because it functions a bit like a machine: you decide what result you’d like out of it, and then design the machine to deliver accordingly. And error is a design flaw that can be corrected by amending the law.
For more information on the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission please visit their site at http://iglhrc.org/
A sincere thank you to Ms Møllmann for taking the time to speak to us and for Suzanne Trimel for facilitating the interview.
Until next week!