Students’ project fosters community spirit

Community spirit is alive and kicking at Victoria University’s Faculty of Law.

At the recent annual launch of the Wellington Community Project, Principal Family Court Judge Peter Boshier said, “We have seen over the past few weeks that New Zealand has an enormously strong community spirit. Your project reflects everything that is noble in a true community spirit because you are helping others for no cost and for the greater good.”

The Wellington Community Justice Project is a student-driven initiative which matches law students to volunteer projects in the legal community. Based at the Victoria University School of Law, the project offers volunteering opportunities in four key areas of the law: education, advocacy, human rights and law reform.

In 2011, the education branch of the project will work closely with the Wellington Community Law Centre on a project called The YEP: The Youth Education Project. This project delivers modules on key areas of the law (such as Employment, Tenancy, Police and Crime, Consumer issues, Sex and Health and Family Issues) to young people who are in alternative education or industry training organisations.

The advocacy team will engage students in several projects involving restorative justice advocacy, work at community law centres and helping to develop the Howard League for Penal Reform in Wellington. It will also assist the Innocence Project (a joint project between Victoria University of Wellington and the University of Otago which investigates possible cases of wrongful conviction in the New Zealand legal system).

The human rights team will work alongside the Human Rights Commission, involving students in Policy Review, Law Reform and Litigation projects with a human rights focus. The team will also establish relationships with eminent Human Rights lawyers and civil society organisations, as well as involving students in the creation of a Human Rights blog with reviews of case law and analysis of media and academic articles.

The law reform team will continue to consult with community organisations that desire law reform and then aid those organisations in researching issues, writing submissions to Select Committees, local Members of Parliament, or the Wellington City Council. Recently the team has worked on the issues of prisoner disenfranchisement and adoption in New Zealand. There are also projects concerning the general election and human trafficking.

ENDS

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