Incorporating Human Rights into the New Chilean Constitution
Location:
Zoom
Date/time
Wed 8 July 2020
14:30-15:45
The Global Justice Academy presents Incorporating Human Rights into the New Chilean Constitution
About the seminar
Chile is currently living a social outburst. It started in Santiago, on October the 18th of 2019, with protests against a rise on the metro fares, but it quickly escalated to more extensive demonstrations throughout the country. Protesters claim that the Chilean economic and political structures are the leading cause for the structural inequalities that Chileans have to face every day.
Chile is ruled by the Constitution of 1980, installed during the dictatorship of General Pinochet. Even though some reforms have been approved, only a few economic, social and cultural rights are guaranteed and protected therein. Also, the Constitution contains specific legal tools that weaken political competition, which is necessary for a democratic and healthy society.
A peace agreement was signed November the 15th of 2019, by the majority of the Chilean political parties. They agreed on calling for a referendum for a new Constitution, which is dated for October 2020. The referendum will ask whether a new constitution should be written and how should the Constitutional power be created. If the option “constitutional delegates” win, a law has already been passed stating that gender parity must be respected. In this case, Chile would be the first country in the world with a constitution written under gender parity.
The constitutional referendum opened many academic debates on how the new Constitution should be and what is the provision that it should and could contain. This seminar addresses the issue of the incorporation of human rights into the Constitution.
Presenters include:
- Amaya Alvez. PhD Law University of York. Professor in Constitutional Law, Universidad de Concepción, Chile
- Constanza Salgado. PhD Law University of Edinburgh. Lecturer in Constitutional Law, Universidad Adolfo Ibañez, Chile.
- Kasey McCall-Smith. PhD Law University of Edinburgh. Senior Lecturer in Public International Law, University of Edinburgh.
- Vicente Silva, LLM in International Human Rights Law, University of Essex. Programme Officer with the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (GI-ESCR).
Chair: Valentina Rioseco Vallejos
This event is free and open to all but registration is required (below).
Image Credit: Photo by Guido Coppa on Unsplash