Mission and Vision

The Centro de Derechos Humanos is an academic institution working throughout Latin America and based in the Law School of the University of Chile. Our mission is to promote human rights linked to the strengthening of democracies in Latin America through:

• Education and training of the highest quality for relevant actors in government and civil society. .
• Research responding to the needs presented by the human rights situation in the region.
• Coordination of networks of individuals and institutions working in human rights on the regional level and support to local initiatives.
• Coordination of strategic action at the regional level.

The Center was established in Santiago in December of 2001, under the co-direction of José Zalaquett and Cecilia Medina. The Center has three principal programs, focused on the following thematic areas:

• Human Rights and Democratization:
  • Transition to democracy and overcoming the legacy of human rights violations or war crimes.
  • Transparency, accountability and the fight against corruption.
• Women and Human Rights:
  • Exclusion and discrimination in Latin America.
  • Inter-American Human Rights System and gender.
• Human Rights and the Rule of Law:
  • International systems for human rights protection.
  • Internal capacity of states in human rights .

The cornerstone of the Center´s work is the training of professionals through graduate diploma courses on human rights. Each course addresses a specific thematic area, and its goal is to provide the tools necessary to advance the human rights agenda throughout the countries of the region. The Center supports the work of its community of graduates in their countries of origin, especially through dedicated websites for each of its three program areas, launched during 2008. Also, teaching undergraduates is a central part of our work at the University of Chile´s Law School.

In order to contribute to the progress, teaching and diffusion of the discipline of human rights, the Center carries out research and investigation, resulting in numerous publications that are available via our websites on an open-access basis. Since 2005, the Center publishes its Human Rights Yearbook (Anuario de Derechos Humanos), a regional reference point in the field of human rights and related topics.

Another aspect of growing importance in the Center?s work is participation in networks focused on analysis and strategic planning related to human rights challenges in the region, especially in the areas of transparency, accountability and anti-corruption, and women and human rights.

The Center is made up of a dynamic and specialized group of professionals representing many nationalities, and receives financial support from a diverse group of foreign governments and foundations, the Government of Chile, as well as in-kind support from the University of Chile.

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