ASOCIACION CIVIL CENTRO DE ESTUDIOS LEGALES Y SOCIALES (CELS)
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Mission Statement
CELS is an organization created in Argentina during the military dictatorship that promotes the protection and enhancement of the effective exercise of human rights, justice and social inclusion at a national and international level. CELS uses advocacy, strategic litigation, applied research and partnerships to carry out its mission. Its current work draws on a history of over 30 years and is characterized by the activism, commitment and professionalism of its members.
About This Cause
Since its inception in 1979, during the military dictatorship, CELS has fought against systematic human rights violations in Argentina. With the reinstatement of democracy in 1983, CELS began to work toward the consolidation of the State's role in the protection of human rights, influencing the design and implementation of public policies. With its ability to adapt to new political contexts, in addition to fighting against impunity for crimes against humanity committed during the last dictatorship, CELS’ works focuses on critical issues of public safety, institutional violence and detention conditions, including torture; economic, social and cultural rights (ESCR) and inclusion; strengthening judicial institutions and ensuring greater access to justice for vulnerable groups. Even though from the beginning CELS connected in a virtuous circle its work and influence in the international arena –particularly with regard to universal and regional mechanisms for the protection and promotion of rights– with the domestic arena, in recent years it has expanded its intervention strategies at the international level in order to influence global human rights discussions from a Latin American perspective. Thus, in the frame of a changing geopolitical scenario and the reconfiguration of both the discourse as well as the institutional engineering of the protection systems, CELS is consolidating into a national human rights organization with a global agenda. CELS is a pioneer in the domestic enforcement of international human rights law. The organization works in partnership with other national, regional and international organizations and movements, with which it designs and implements joint advocacy strategies and exchanges experiences and knowledge. Its strategies include research, advocacy, training and strategic litigation to expose the structural patterns of human rights violations, to foster and challenge public policy, and demand the legal protection of vulnerable groups. CELS' work is centered on six major themes: Memory, Truth and Justice; Justice and Security; Social Inclusion and Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ESCR); Migrants; Mental Health and Justice Reform. CELS has a consultative status with the United Nations Organization and it is registered as a civil society organization in the Organization of American States. CELS is a member of the International Network of Civil Liberties Organizations (INCLO) and serves as its Executive Secretariat. It is also a member of International Commission of Jurists, the International League for Human Rights, the World Organization against Torture in Geneva and it is correspondent member of the International Federation for Human Rights. CELS received the 2011 Gruber Justice Prize; the Human Rights prize awarded by the Republic of France in 2009; the Roger E. Joseph Prize in 1988; the Human Rights Award of the New York-based Lawyers Committee for Human Rights in 1988 and the Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award in 1983.