Human rights in legal training: the voices of advanced law students at the Faculty of Economics and Legal Sciences (Argentina)

Abstract

Based on accredited research at the Faculty of Economic and Legal Sciences of the National University of La Pampa (FCEyJ - UNLPam), the study presents advances in human rights training in the Law degree curriculum. It highlights various aspects that contribute to the relevance and necessity of mainstreaming human rights in legal education as a obligation and a recent educational policy conventional of the faculty (Human Rights Mainstreaming Program, Resolution No. 246/23 of the Board of Directors). The research draws on various authors who develop the foundations of human rights; it uses the model proposed by Flórez Ruiz and Gaspar Dueñas (2023) to find out student opinions about what human rights are; it develops a theoretical framework on education in, about, and for Human Rights and why it is necessary for future legal practitioners to be aware of them and apply them. Finally, it briefly addresses the relationship between the conceptualization offered by students and the predominant legal teaching model.
Methodologically, this is a qualitative-quantitative exploration based on an online survey administered to Legal Sociology students (fifth year of the Law degree) from 2019 to 2024. Based on these results, we reflect on the legal teaching of human rights, which is of paramount importance today, not only because of the special relationship between the legal profession and the exercise of rights, but also because it is necessary to counteract the risks posed by denialist discourses with situated knowledge.