On Monday, February 20, 2012, the Rapoport Center for Human Rights and Justice will host the first Human Rights Happy Hour of the Spring semester. Professor Jorge Contesse of the Universidad Diego Portales in Santiago, Chile, will present a talk entitled “Inter-American Constitutionalism: The Creation and Internalization of Human Rights.” The event, which is free and open to the public, will take place from 3:30 p.m.–5:30 p.m. in TNH 3.142 at the University of Texas School of Law.
Jorge Contesse is a professor and director of the Center for Human Rights at the Universidad Diego Portales, and will be a visiting resource professor at the University of Texas this spring. He works on human rights and indigenous issues, primarily focusing on the Mapuche community in Chile. Contesse has also been a researcher and consultant to various international organizations, such as the International Council on Human Rights Policy and Human Rights Watch. He has directed research projects focusing on indigenous populations, including a project cosponsored by Harvard University, Columbia University, the University of Miami, and Universidad de los Andes (Colombia). He also serves as editor of an annual report on human rights in Chile.
His recent articles include “Universally Speaking? The Cultural Challenge to Rights and Constitutionalism,” “‘It’s Not OK’: New Zealand’s Efforts to Eliminate Violence against Women,” and “The Rebel Democracy: A Look Into the Relationship Between the Mapuche People and the Chilean State.” He is a recipient of the Fulbright Scholarship and Presidente de la Republica scholarship from Chile. Contesse received an LLM from Yale Law School.
More information about Professor Contesse, including a link to the paper upon which his talk is based, and the Happy Hour Speaker Series can be found on the Rapoport Center’s website.