Cai:

Jean Yunqin Cai ’20 worked as the legal intern of KoeKoeTech, a social venture in Yangon, Myanmar dedicated in solving social issues with technology. Her main project was related to hate speech, with a particular focus on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar, which has been a huge human crisis involving racial cleansing. She conducted research on the freedom of speech, both on the international and the US level. Working with technicians and linguistics, she assisted in the development of a Burmese natural language processing targeting hate speech on social media.

In my summer at KoeKoeTech, my main project is focused on legal research related to hate speech, with a particular focus on the Rohingya crisis in Myanmar. KoeKoeTech is a social venture in Myanmar dedicated to solve social issues with technology. As the Rohingya crisis has become a serious human right crisis involving racial cleansing, KoeKoeTech has recognized that hate speech may have been playing in role in this crisis, especially through social media. KoeKoeTech has been building a natural language process algorithm to detect the hate speech online, and I assisted in building legal buckets for the algorithm, helping it to group speech into different categories based on the US and international law standards.

My work cannot be done without the training I have received in the law school. It is hard to strike the right balance regarding hate speech: violence and discrimination based on race, religion, or nationality shall not be encouraged, while on the other hand, the freedom of speech shall be protected and there is also the danger of censorship. And, there is no one right balance. The laws in different jurisdictions are different, which reflects the distinctive histories and the values of the people. I am grateful that with the research skill I have learnt at school, I am able to conduct the research in both the international and the US law to help address this issue. My supervisor at KoeKoeTech who is a US lawyer also gave me tremendous help and valuable guidance.

I also assisted in the policy work KoeKoeTech engaged in. KoeKoeTech was trying to understand the role of social media in racial or religious conflicts, and together with other civil societies, trying to explore what kind of improvement on Facebook and the US policy level may lead to positive changes. I helped explored the possibilities and constraints from the legal perspective, and there have been exciting work going on regarding the policy recommendation to Facebook and the US law-makers.

There were also lots of great learning opportunities in the summer during the work. I attended many meetings with other civil societies in Myanmar. Some specialized in legal research and by talking to the people and reading their reports I have gained practical knowledge on those legal issues. Others specialize in many other areas: conflict watching, peace building, voter education, etc. This experience broadened my horizons, and gave me a deeper understanding on both the Rohingya crisis and the vastly changing Myanmar society, a new-born democracy. Also, my local colleagues helped me a lot during those meetings. Sometimes when we were at Burmese meetings they voluntarily acted as interpreter so that my international colleagues and I were able to understand and participate in the meetings. My experience cannot be so engaging and heart-warming without them.

There were several other projects that I took a part in. In the Smart Meter project, I negotiated and drafted the purchasing contract between KoeKoeTech and the seller of the smart meters. This is not possible if I have not received training in contract writing and the mock negotiations I have had at Columbia. Both parties were eventually satisfied with agreement, and after signing it entered into force. I also gave several training sessions to the local law students, who would later contribute legal news comments to a law-learning App under development by KoeKoeTech. The meeting with local law students helped me understand the legal system in Myanmar, and its legal education system. I myself also contributed content to the law-learning App.

My experience in KoeKoeTech was definitely eye-opening for me. I was able to work with and learn from many professionals in a variety of areas, including lawyers, technicians, linguistic, and civil society workers, who came from a variety of cultural background. I was able to apply the knowledge and skills I have learnt at school, and it is amazing to see that in this way I can contribute to projects that may hopefully bring a positive change to the world. I am also grateful for the opportunity to work and stay in Myanmar, the part of South-east Asia I have never been before, and to view the growth and struggle of an energetic new-born democracy from its inside. The experience of this summer is so valuable to me, both professionally and personally.