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A research network
on Public Institutions and promotion of inclusive Justice and Human Rights
+ 50 expert academics collaborating across America
In dialogue with different legal actors, generating evidence, knowledge and practice, through multidisciplinary and empirical research.
Creating literature, conferences and seminars
Researchers and judicial actors promoting topics and knowledge exchange for a change in legal culture.
Conference / Training
"A cross-sectional view of the principle of legitimacy in the framework of Latin American legal reforms"
Academics and members of the judiciary from Mexico, Chile and Canada discuss the challenges of implementing international human rights standards in our justice systems. Based on the experiences and decisions of the courts, the discussion addresses the question of the barriers or limitations that affect our judicial systems, particularly with respect to vulnerable populations, due to social, cultural, racial, social, gender stereotypes. or other stereotypes.
Seminar
"Access to Justice and Legitimacy
in the judicial spaces"
Experts from North and South discussed their research and experiences focusing on different Canadian and Latin American contexts. It explored how justice responded to various interests outside the legal system and that aggravated inequalities. The objective of this seminar was to identify these phenomena and seek means and strategies to deal with them.
Origin of the Platform
Both Latin America and Canada have adhered in recent decades
in new constitutional and legal changes creating new mechanisms to guarantee fundamental rights.
Despite these innovative institutional and legislative changes, there is still a lack of representation by public institutions, exacerbating the lack of legitimacy.
Likewise, access to justice for people in situations of vulnerability in the hemisphere continues to be a pending challenge, as does the improvement of the social conditions of said groups.
These deficiencies occur even in countries that exhibit the best standards of protection of human rights in the continent. Recent studies in Canada, for example, show discriminatory treatment of disadvantaged populations, based on police profiles (Dufour, PUM 2022), as a differentiated application of punitive law to the most vulnerable (Sylvestre, Cambridge 2021, Lamarche, UQUAM 2016).
For all of the above reasons, we believe it is especially timely and perhaps urgent that as the countries of the Americas implement and redesign their legal reforms and innovate their legal and judicial systems, we share and compare our experiences and data. The main objective of the platform is to develop lines of research and deliberation that affect reality and contribute to improving democratic institutions and the validity of human rights.
For an exchange
of experiences and knowledge
The mission
The platform focuses mainly on legal and political thinking, institutional practices of government agencies and civil society organizations in order to share and produce knowledge and best practices in the Americas, promote the relevance, integrity and democratization of public institutions, as well as the protection and respect for human rights, with special emphasis on segments of the population that require special protection, and educate the population by contributing to the inclusion of this knowledge in the educational process of the various countries.
The vision
To be a model at the inter-American level in the production of knowledge, sharing and dissemination of various ideas, best practices and intercultural dialogues in relation to justice systems and the defence and promotion of human rights, producing relevant proposals that are widely disseminated and discussed in the political, social and legal spheres of the countries of the continent.
Our 5 Goals
Specific objectives
1. To develop broad debates and critical analysis based on an assessment of the differences and diversities in the region.
2. To investigate the different problems and challenges related to the continent's public institutions and the enforcement of human rights, based on the social and political reality of the countries whose institutions make up the Platform.
3. To develop training activities and sharing of knowledge and experiences with experts, legal and judicial actors, civil society organizations and the community in general.
4. To train the educational community, especially students, on the common challenges faced in the Americas, especially in the area of justice.
5. Contribute, with the products generated by the members of the Platform, to the debate and public discussions on justice and human rights in accordance with contemporary discourses in the search for proposals that help overcome the common problems identified in the Americas.
Meetings & Collaborations
Partners & Alliances
Given this joint work, the current agreements between several of these university institutions and the affiliated relationships between their members, the decision is born to strengthen the work carried out and project it into the future, with the formal creation of the Platform for Justice and Democracy in the Americas (PJUSDA). Thus, it seeks to project the creation of an entity with legal personality in one or more of the countries concerned and, through it, apply for different initiatives of interest, consolidating and projecting the work that we have been carrying out.
Testimonials
Olga Garcia Lopez
President of the Supreme Court of Justice and of the Council of the Judiciary of the Judicial Power
San Luis Potosi State
- Mexico _
The Judiciary of the State of San Luis Potosí appreciates the distinction made by the University of Ottawa, through the Researcher and Project Coordinator, Pierre Gilles, for the training "A cross-sectional view of the principle of legitimacy" of the legal order in Latin America; which exceeded all expectations, by achieving the exchange of experiences between Judicial Powers and the Academic Community, from Canada, Chile and our country; with whom we share the actions of this Court on issues of persons or groups in situations of vulnerability and constant training in Gender and Human Rights to strengthen knowledge of the obligations of the Mexican State in the application of international law, parallel to the decisions of the Supreme Court of Justice of the Nation.
Elsa Cordero
Retired Magistrate from the Judiciary
State of Tlaxcala
- Mexico -
The training ¨A cross-sectional view on the principle of legitimacy in the framework of the reforms¨, is an academic experience that develops the link between judicial theory and practice, enriched with the visions of different national experiences that not only guide -or prevent in some cases-, but also encourage the promotion of new models, practices and systems. Dialogue, criticism, construction and the exchange of ideas make this seminar a highly recommended option.
Vania Bouteaud
Retired Magistrate from the Judiciary
Santiago
- Chile -
It was a very valuable experience to contribute to this Training Project that brought together the participation of both academics and justice operators. Activity organized jointly by the Research Office of the University of Ottawa, the Faculty of Law and Humanities of the Central University of Chile and the Faculty of Law of the University of Chile.
On April 27 and 28, 2021, a series of legal professionals from Mexico, Canada and Chile addressed topics related to the legitimacy of judicial powers; and personally, the issue related to criminal proceedings involving people with cognitive disabilities, both victims and defendants.
Antonio Villegas
Supreme Court
Santiago
- Chile -
Participating in this activity was a tremendously valuable professional and human experience. It was very pleasing to be able to share the advances in terms of inclusion and improvement of access for people with disabilities. Likewise, it is very enriching to listen to the experiences of other institutions and public services in Chile and Canada. The value of this type of initiative lies in the participation of all the people involved in the matter and who want a better State and a better country.
Dr. Arturo Argente
Law Professor
Toluca
- Mexico -
The academic platform, which is made up of several academics around the American continent and who come from different world-renowned universities, offers an in-depth analysis of the challenges facing human rights and their respective development in this region of the world.
The challenges that the American continent faces in terms of human rights derived from the COVID-19 pandemic, violence against women, care for the families of missing persons, migration and the abandonment of vulnerable groups that make up this area of the world They demand attention, not only from the various governments and human rights defenders that make up this area, especially from the academy that needs to formulate tables of analysis, debates and provoke proposals attached to the law and that cause an impact in the political, social and legal of the countries of the continent. In the end, they are answers that the Latin American people demand.