International Law Internships and Work Experience Opportunities
Written by Dylan Karssens
26 March 2024
The University of Exeter’s international law modules provide an extensive and engaging insight into the theoretical elements of the area’s respective branches. From international criminal law to international commercial litigation, our students are offered the opportunity to immerse themselves in a vast array of different international legal fields of both a public and private character. Nevertheless, for students aiming to pursue a career in the field, practical experience working at the institutions and organisations that shape international law represents an invaluable supplement to the theoretical knowledge gained inside the classroom.
In contrast to the relative proliferation and visibility of domestic legal internship opportunities, finding comparable experiences in international law can be especially challenging. This is not necessarily because such opportunities are scarce. Instead, this is due in significant part to a general lack of awareness of where to find the many opportunities that do exist in the field, beyond those provided by the most well-known institutions and courts. In this regard, knowing who provides relevant opportunities and where to look is particularly important.
Accordingly, the purpose of this page is to provide a concise and easily accessible list of links to the internship recruitment pages of a broad range of different bodies and institutions whose work either directly or indirectly relates to international law. Given that the eligibility requirements and precise details of each opportunity are potentially subject to change upon each recruitment cycle, this page does not outline specific details about the opportunities as these will be more regularly updated on the organisations’ respective websites. Instead, this page provides students with a centralised bank of potential internship providers that can serve as a useful starting point in their search for practical experience.
It must be noted that not all of the opportunities listed below are remunerated. Furthermore, the list is not exhaustive. We will continue to add relevant opportunities to the list over time. If you are aware of additional opportunities not mentioned below and would like to support students aspiring to work in international law, feel free to contact the Exeter Centre for International Law and we will endeavour to add your suggestion to the list. Please note that we are not able to provide specific guidance on internship applications and that this page is offered for information only.
We hope that, through this page, we can help students realise their career ambitions in the fascinating – and increasingly important – field of international law.
International Courts, Tribunals, and Related Bodies
- International Court of Justice (ICJ) – The Hague, Netherlands
- International Criminal Court (ICC) – The Hague, Netherlands
- International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) – Arusha, Tanzania or The Hague, Netherlands
- International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) – Hamburg, Germany
- Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) – The Hague, Netherlands
- Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) – Lausanne, Switzerland
- International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) – multiple locations
Regional Courts and Related Bodies
- African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) – Banjul, The Gambia
- African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights (AfCHPR) – Arusha, Tanzania
- Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) – Luxembourg City, Luxembourg
- European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) – Strasbourg, France
- Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) – multiple locations
- Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR) – San José, Costa Rica
- Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC) and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (SPO) – The Hague, Netherlands
International Organisations and Related Bodies
- International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) – Geneva, Switzerland
- International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) – Lyon, France
- International Institute for the Unification of Private Law (UNIDROIT) – Rome, Italy
- United Nations (UN) – multiple locations
- International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) – multiple locations
- International Labour Organization (ILO) – multiple locations
- International Maritime Organization (IMO) – London, England
- United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (UNCITRAL) – New York, United States or Vienna, Austria
- United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) – Geneva, Switzerland
- United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) – multiple locations
- United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) – multiple locations
- United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) – multiple locations
- United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) – Bonn, Germany
- United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) – Geneva, Switzerland
- United Nations Office of Legal Affairs (OLA) – New York, United States
- United Nations Refugee Agency (UNHCR) – multiple locations
- World Bank (WB) – multiple locations
- World Health Organization (WHO) – multiple locations
- World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) – Geneva, Switzerland
- World Trade Organization (WTO) – Geneva, Switzerland
Regional Organisations and Related Bodies
- African Union (AU) – Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
- Council of Europe (CoE) – Strasbourg, France or Numerous Field Office Locations
- European Union (EU) – multiple locations
- The Central American Integration System - El Sistema de la Integración Centroamericana (SICA) – multiple locations
- North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) – multiple locations
- Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) – multiple locations
- Organization of American States (OAS) – multiple locations
Non-Governmental Organisations
- Amnesty International – multiple locations
- Avocats Sans Frontières – multiple locations
- DIGNITY – Copenhagen, Denmark
- Freedom House – multiple locations
- Human Rights Watch (HRW) – multiple locations
- International Commission of Jurists – Geneva, Switzerland
- REDRESS – multiple locations
- Save the Children – multiple locations
- TRIAL International – multiple locations
Other (Academic, Research, Associations, etc):
- Association of Defence Counsel practising before the International Courts and Tribunals (ADC-ICT) – The Hague, Netherlands
- Centre for International Environmental Law (CIEL)
- Diakonia International Humanitarian Law Centre – multiple locations
- International Bar Association (IBA) – multiple locations
- International Institute of Humanitarian Law – Sanremo, Italy
- Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law – Heidelberg, Germany
- T.M.C. Asser Instituut – The Hague, Netherlands