Melanie Glodkiewicz selected as an Erasmus+ Ambassador
“My internship has been a life-changing period”
Wednesday 14 June 2016
Human Rights at Sea is delighted to announce that a former intern, Miss Melanie Glodkiewicz, has been selected to become a European Erasmus+ Programme ambassador following her work on Mediterranean migrant projects for the charity and while seconded to the German NGO, Seawatch.
Melanie joined the HRAS team weeks before the 2016 inaugural International Maritime Human Rights conference in London and spent one month in the UK learning about the charity’s work, before flying out Malta on secondment to the German search and rescue NGO SeaWatch and who she remained with until March 2017.
Melanie’s exploits and life-changing experiences in the Mediterranean were captured on a blog and where she highlighted may of the raw issues that the NGOs were facing during last seasons tragic migration season from the Libyan coast.
Following her time at sea, Melanie went on to lead the drafting and NGO co-ordination for the first ‘Voluntary Code of Conduct for Search and Rescue Operations undertaken by civil society Non-Governmental Organisations in the Mediterranean Sea‘ which was presented in the European Parliament on 29 March 2017.
Melanie commented: “After my Erasmus + internship experience at Human Rights at Sea, I have become an ambassador of the European programme. Many others will be given the opportunity to geographically enlarge the scope of their educational and vocational plans, eventually leading to a society that is more open to other cultures, and respectful of the European Union values.
As an Erasmus + ambassador, I count on sharing my eye-opening experiences from my field involvement in search and rescue operations offshore Libya, as well as my professionally stimulating experiences at Human Rights at Sea. My internship has been a life-changing period, a kick-starter to my professional career, that could not have been possible without the support of the Erasmus + programme.”
Since then, Melanie has gone onto feature in numerous media articles about the Mediterranean migration crisis, advises several NGOs about the operational realities at sea saving life at sea, has spoken at Leiden University and represents Human Rights at Sea in Brussels in her new capacity as a Humanitarian Advisor.
About
The Erasmus Programme is an EU exchange student programme that has been in existence since the late 1980’s. Its purpose is to provide foreign exchange options for students from within the European Union and it involves many of the best universities and seats of learning on the continent.The programme is aimed at cross-border cooperation between states to aid the growth of international studying, and with over 4000 students involved in the programme at any one time it offers an excellent chance of experience abroad.
For more information: http://www.erasmusprogramme.com
ENDS.