AHRC’s initial program was the Summer Internship Program, which was designed to provide law students with exposure to human rights work and advocacy and produced its first crop of interns in the summer of 1987. Since then, the Internship Program was expanded to include the following activities:
1. Exposure Program
2. Semestral Break Internship
3. Graduate (One-year) Internship
In 1989, AHRC started the publication of its newsletter, the Philippine Human Rights Monitor (Monitor). The Monitor compiled data and information on the human rights situation in the country; documented measures taken by the government and activities of non-government organizations (NGOs) to address the human rights situation; and kept abreast with the current trends and developments in human rights laws, policies and decisions of the Philippine government and of international institutions.
In 1990, two additional programs were put up: Research and Education, and Litigation. The Research and Education Program grew out of the need of various groups and sectors for more training and education on human rights issues and laws. Interns, citing their experiences during the Summer Internship Program, articulated the need. Research and education eventually led to more intense advocacy on human rights issues. Also in 1990, AHRC became the Secretariat of the Human Rights Committee of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific, or the LAWASIA.
In 1993, the interns further initiated the creation of the Child Rights Desk, named Adhikain para sa Karapatang Pambata, which became a pioneer in the legal promotion and protection of children’s rights in the Philippines. The interns also proposed the creation of a Litigation unit within the AHRC to handle human rights cases, given the many human rights violations being committed at that time. This Litigation unit was subsequently integrated in 1997 with the Legal Aid Program of the AteneoLawSchool to strengthen the school’s thrust of producing law students who are aware of the human rights situation in the country and who are exposed to the concept of developmental lawyering.
Later, in 1996, AHRC took on the role of Secretariat of the Working Group for an ASEAN Human Rights Mechanism.
Today, AHRC pursues its mandate of protecting and promoting human rights through various programs and services. The Center is engaged in providing legal assistance, research and publication, law and policy reform advocacy, education and training, institution building, law school curriculum development and values formation and has a fully-developed desk on children’s rights and special desks on the rights of women, migrant workers, and indigenous peoples.
At present, over 600 Ateneo law students and more students from provincial law schools under AHRC’s internship replication Program have been exposed to activities in human rights work and advocacy.
With the support of student-interns, alumni lawyers, the Ateneo Law School, and its benefactors, AHRC will continue to strive hard to enhance its work in order to respond effectively to the needs and challenges of the times.
Contact Information
Ateneo Human Rights Center
Ateneo Professional Schools Building
Rockwell Drive, Rockwell Center
1200 Makati City, Philippines
Trunkline: (632) 899-7691 locals 2109/2117
Fax: (632)8994342
email: info@ahrc.org.ph
For more information, visit: http://www.ahrc.org.ph
