AUSJAL & United For Rights, together for clinical human rights education

The Association of Universities Entrusted to the Society of Jesus in Latin America (AUSJAL) and the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR) recently announced their new partnership, which represents a major development for human rights clinical education in the Americas.

The two organizations signed an agreement to strengthen joint efforts in human rights education. Through the agreement, the University Network will work with individual universities to develop and strengthen interdisciplinary clinics in human rights. These clinics will work with communities and individuals facing rights abuse. The partnership will thus strengthen the commitment of AUSJAL to social justice and human rights by direct engagement with victims of rights abuse, as well as through training of the next generation of human rights and social justice advocates.

• UNHR is an international human rights advocacy organization, which facilitates supervised engagement in human rights at colleges and universities around the globe while partnering with communities affected or threatened by abuse. As a central part of its mission, the University Network collaborates with academics and practitioners around the world to foster a stronger global human rights community.

• AUSJAL brings together Jesuit universities in Mexico and Central and South America, leading research and teaching centers in Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, the Domincan Republic, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Mexico, Nicaragua, Paraguay, Peru, Uruguay, and Venezuela.

“This partnership reinforces AUSJAL’s commitment to social justice and human rights through direct engagement with victims and through training the next generation of human rights and social justice advocates”

The AUSJAL-UNHR partnership is a key aspect of a shared mission. Through this collaboration, the two organizations have already completed an important book-length study of impunity in cases of grave rights violation in Mexico. A research team at ITESO, a Mexican member university of AUSJAL, has joined the University Network to identify the factors that undermine investigations and protections in the country. The project sets forth recommendations, including potential international involvement, to bolster efforts of Mexican authorities and civil society to end the country’s deadly cycle of impunity. The book is scheduled for publication during 2021.

This is just the beginning of a collaboration that aims to unite efforts for social justice, human rights, community engagement, and interdisciplinary clinical teaching and praxis.