Law Registrar
Summer Overseas Program
Valparaiso Law Chile Argentina Program : International Human Rights
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Led by scholars and practitioners from the United States, Chile, and Argentina, Summer Program students will examine legal, historical, and cultural approaches to human rights in Chile and Argentina. Both nations have recently emerged from periods of significant human rights abuse, and both continue to grapple with the need to protect human rights while addressing significant social issues. This unique program offers students immersion in a foreign legal system and a comparative perspective on pressing questions of human rights.
The Summer Program is offered in conjunction with Universidad de Valparaiso, Universidad del Salvador, Universidad de Los Andes, and Universidad Austral. Space for the 2008 session is limited to 20 students. For questions or additional information, please contact Professor Mark Adams, director of international programs, at 219.465.7869 or mark.adams@valpo.edu.
Video Slideshows
Asado, Finca, and Santiago
Corte Suprema - Plaza de Mayo
Buenos Aires city tour
The Summer Program provides students with a unique addition to their legal education. Studying abroad exposes students to the legal and judicial systems of other countries, gives the students an important comparative perspective for examining and understanding the U.S. legal system, and prepares them for a career in an increasingly global business and legal environment. Students can also pursue an externship to combine a valuable practical component with their studies.
Faculty
Professor Mark Adams
Professor of Law, Director of International Programs
Valparaiso University School of Law
Professor Adams specializes in labor and employment law and trains students in the art and craft of legal writing. In addition to coordinating the Summer Program, he will co-teach the course Human Rights and Latin American Legal Institutions. Professor Adams earned a juris doctorate from the University of Chicago and, though he traveled abroad as a high school athlete, credits his interest in international education and his passion for the study of human rights in South America to deepening relationships and friendships with students, professors, and activists around the world.
Professor Seymour Moskowitz
Professor of Law
Valparaiso University School of Law
Professor Moskowitz earned his law degree from Harvard Law School. He worked for Legal Services of Gary, Indiana, helped found a law-reform project in Northwest Indiana, and played a crucial role in the development of Valparaiso Law’s clinical program. His scholarly interests lie in the pretrial processes, labor, family, and elder law. He has published several treatises on legal issues in discovery and has written extensively about topics in employment, health, elder and family law.
Jorge Amor Ameal
Consultant
Mr. Ameal earned a law degree at Universidad Austral and completed postgraduate studies in constitutional law and human rights, as well as a master of laws, at Universidad Palermo. He completed a second master of laws, in international human rights law, at the University of Essex. Mr. Ameal has held a number of human rights advocacy posts, among them positions in the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights, Argentina’s National Ministry of Justice and Human Rights, and the Buenos Aires Province Human Rights Secretariat. He has lectured on the conditions of detention in prison and has taught courses on human rights and penitentiary practice.
Roberto M. Garreton
Chief Counsel
Vicariate for Solidarity
A senior advocate for human rights in the twentieth century, Mr. Garreton has held numerous diplomatic and human rights-advocacy positions. During the military dictatorship in Chile, he was an attorney with the Vicariate for Solidarity, the main institution for the defense of human rights. He was appointed ambassador to the International Human Rights Organization by the first post-dictatorship constitutional government, served as an attorney for the UNHCR in Chile, participated in the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detentions, and acted as Special Rapporteur of the UN on human rights in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In addition he has participated in more than a dozen human rights-related missions, most recently to the Philippines at the request of the Asian Federation Against Involuntary Disappearance. In addition to sharing his experience in numerous university and professional classrooms, Mr. Garreton is the author of several articles and the book By Force, Without Reason: Analysis of the Military Edicts of the Junta Militar in Chile. He is the 1989 recipient of the Monsenor Leonidas Proano Award for the Defense of Human Rights, the 1993 Ruth Pearce Award, and the 1999 Palme Nationale des Droits de l’Homme Award.
Santiago Legarre
Professor of Law and Chair, Constitutional Law Department
Universidad Austral
Visiting Professor, Paul M. Herbert Law Center, Louisiana State University
Educated at the Universidad Catolica Argentina, the Universidad de Buenos Aires, and the University of Oxford, Professor Legarre has held visiting scholar posts at Notre Dame, Oxford, and Columbia universities. The author of two books and numerous articles, he writes on such questions as police power, public morality, and the jurisdiction of the Supreme Court. In addition to his teaching and writing responsibilities, Professor Legare also argues pro bono cases before the Argentine Supreme Court.
Jose Miguel Larenas Mahn
Research Project Manager
Southeastern Pacific Research Institute for Advanced Technologies
Mr. Mahn earned his master’s of science in chemical engineering from the University Federico Santa Maria. As a consultant, researcher, and project manager, he has contracted with a number of Chilean universities and government agencies. While conducting research in northern Chile, Mr. Mahn sustained serious injuries when a land mine exploded near him, leaving him handicapped. He has recorded his experience in the book Antipersonnel Mines, Unexploded Ordnance: What is Left Behind, and, in addition to his research, focuses on providing aid to those injured in land mine explosions and advocating for the victims.
Joaquin Migliore
Professor of Law
Universidad Austral
Catholic University of Argentina
A specialist in legal and political philosophy, as well as ethics and human rights, Professor Migliore earned his doctor of juridicial science from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina. He also earned a law degree from the Universidad de Buenos Aires. He has written extensively on political philosophy and on the thinkers John Locke and John Rawls. His publications include “Michael Walzer and the Problem of Just War” in Collecion and “John Locke and the Problem of Tolerance,” in the Argentine Association of the Philosophy of Rights. In his capacity as a guest lecturer for the Summer Program, Professor Migliore draws on his broad historical, philosophical, economic, and social knowledge to help students develop an understanding of and appreciation for the convergence of factors that contributed to Chilean and Argentine development in the twentieth century.
Julio Cesar Rivera, Jr.
Assistant Professor of Constitutional Law
Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina
Professor of Communication Law
Universidad Austral
In addition to his academic appointments, Professor Rivera also practices in the fields of litigation and constitutional law. He earned a juris doctor degree at the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Argentina and a master of laws at Harvard Law School. He is currently a doctoral candidate at the University of Buenos Aires. Professor Rivera is the author of Constitutionality of the Right to Reply as well of several articles on freedom of speech, property rights, and judicial review.
Fernando M. Toller
Professor of Law
Universidad Austral
Professor Toller teaches courses in constitutional law, freedom of expression, human rights, and legal research methodologies to students at the Universidad Austral Law School in addition to directing its doctoral program and serving as an external adviser. He earned his juris doctorate at the Law and Political Sciences School of the Argentine Catholic University and his doctorate at the University of Navarre Law School in Pamplona, Spain. He is the author of several books, including Constitutional Interpretation of Fundamental Rights: An Alternative to Conflicts of Rights; The Symphony of rights: Methodology of Interpretation and Decision Making for Solving Constitutional Rights Conflicts; and Freedom of the Press and Effective Judicial Protection, which won the National Academy of Law and Social Sciences of Buenos Aires Award and the Best Law Book Award. Professor Toller continues his pro bono work in public interest law, advising citizens and NGOs.
Ignacio A. Boulin Victoria
Founder and Executive Director
Latin American Center for Human Rights
Educated at the Universidad de Mendoza, Mr. Victoria has experience in a number of public and private human rights organizations. Presently, he serves as the director of the Latin American Center for Human Rights, an organization that researches regional human rights and constitutional law issues and litigates human rights cases before state courts. Prior to this endeavor, he interned at the Organization of American States in Washington, DC, on the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and in the Department of Political and Democratic Affairs. He is also a member of the Center for Legal and Political Studies and assistant director of the Association of University Students for Development.
Course Offerings
Comparative Family Law (2 credit hours)
Professor Seymour Moskowitz
This course will seek to understand and to explain patterns of similarity and divergence in the law of domestic relations in several societies. By examining a number of discrete, but interrelated, issues such as grounds for divorce, new reproductive technologies (e.g., surrogate motherhood, in vitro fertilization), the rights of unmarried cohabitants, etc., students will become exposed to the varying rules and processes used by the United States, Chile, and Argentina. The course will also examine the issue of adoption of the children of the disappeared.
Human Rights and Latin American Legal Institutions (2 credit hours)
Professor Mark Adams
Guest professors and lecturers
This course will introduce students to human rights history and current issues in Latin America, focusing on Chile and Argentina. With lectures by distinguished professors, judges, and human rights advocates from Chile and Argentina, the course provides an introduction to comparative constitutionalism, the transition to democracy and reconciliation, rights of indigenous peoples, and the judicial systems of each country. In addition to attending classroom lectures, students will visit constitutional, supreme, and criminal courts; tour a prison and meet with prisoner rights advocates, prison officials, and inmates; meet with human rights organizations such as La Vicaria de Solidaridad, La Madres de Plaza de Mayo, and Amnesty International; and visit government institutions such as the Chilean Congress. Scholars and practitioners will use these site visits to facilitate conversations and to anchor classroom learning in historical and cultural context.
Course Materials
Please pick up course reading materials from Melissa Mundt, executive administrator of academic services, by May 1 and purchase The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival, by Alicia Partnoy and Julia Alvarez. Additional readings will be provided by guest lecturers upon arrival. Program participants not enrolled in Valparaiso University School of Law, please contact Melissa at melissa.mundt@valpo.edu to make arrangements for obtaining course materials.
* Courses are taught in English
Program overview and schedule
Course dates are May 19 to June 14, 2008.
Sat 5/17 |
Depart for Santiago, Chile |
Sun 5/18 |
Arrive Santiago, Chile; travel to Vina del Mar |
Mon 5/19 |
Welcome and orientation Human Rights in Chile Land Mines City Tour Vina del Mar and Valparaiso |
Tues 5/20 |
Indigenous Peoples Comparative Family Law |
Weds 5/21 |
Human Rights Latin America Comparative Family Law Site visit to Congress |
Thurs 5/22 |
Human Rights Latin America Comparative Family Law |
| Fri 5/23 |
Human Rights Latin America Comparative Family Law |
Sat 5/24 |
Winery Tour |
Sun 5/25 |
Excursions to Ski Trip or Pablo Neruda House |
Mon 5/26 |
Depart for Santiago Chilean Law and History Human Rights/Philosophy Lecturer: Professor Cristobal Orrego, Universidad de Los Andes |
Tues 5/27 |
Constitutional Law & Human Rights in Chile Site visit: Criminal Courts and Foundacion deVicaria de la Solidaridad |
Weds 5/28 |
Chilean Criminal Law & Procedure Santiago City Tour; lunch in Mercado Central Santiago Site visit: Constitutional Court and Palacio de la Moned |
Thurs 5/29 |
Comparative Family Law Site visit: Villa Grimaldi |
Fri 5/30 |
Human Rights Latin America Comparative Family Law Santiago Farewell dinner |
Sat 5/31 |
Depart for Buenos Aires, Argentina |
Sun 6/1 |
City tour Welcome dinner at Puerto Madera |
Mon 6/2 |
Argentine Human Rights History Comparative Family Law |
Tues 6/3 |
Argentine Constitution/Legal System Current Human Rights Issues in Argentina Lecturer: Jorge Ameal, human rights attorne |
Weds 6/4 |
Freedom of Expression Comparative Family Law |
Thurs 6/5 |
Comparative Family Law Site visit: Madres de Plaza de Mayo, 3:30 p.m. demonstration |
Fri 6/6 |
Comparative Family Law Site visit: Argentine prison |
Sat 6/7 |
Alternative excursions to Tigre River or Colonia, Uruguay |
Sun 6/8 |
Asado (Argentine Barbecue) Hosted at Professor Santiago LeGarre family ranch |
Mon 6/9 |
Property Rights/Economic Crisis Comparative Family Law Lecturer: Sy Moskowitz |
Tues 6/10 |
Constitutional Interpretation of Rights Comparative Family Law Site visit: Amnesty International |
Weds 6/11 |
Comparative Family Law Human Rights Latin America Lecturer: Mark Adams |
Thurs 6/12 |
Reading Day |
Fri 6/13 |
Exam: Comparative Family Law |
Sat 6/14 |
Exam: Human Rights in Latin America Buenos Aires Farewell dinner |
Sun 6/15 |
Departure |
Course Materials
Please pick up course reading materials from Melissa Mundt, executive administrator for academic services, by May 1, 2008, and purchase The Little School: Tales of Disappearance and Survival, by Alicia Partnoy and Julia Alvarez. Additional readings will be provided by guest lecturers upon arrival.
Program participants not enrolled in Valparaiso University School of Law, please contact Melissa Mundt at Melissa.Mundt@valpo.edu to make arrangements for obtaining course materials.
Accommodations
Crystal Suites Apartments
Uruguay 820
Centro
Buenos Aires, Argentina
(5411)5811-4169
www.crystalsuites.com.ar
Hotel Cantamar
5 Norte #230
Vina del Mar, Chile
56-32-2471010
www.cantamar.cl
Buena Vista Apart Hotel
Luis Rodriquez Velasco 4717
Las Condes
Santiago, Chile 7580114
2-3259970
Travel information
Passport
Give a copy of your passport identification page to Professor Adams, director of international programs, by May 1, 2008. Leave a copy of the identification page with relatives in the U.S. and bring your passport and two copies of the identification page with you.
Travel Insurance and the International Student Identity Card
Valparaiso University will not assume liability for personal injury of illness, damage to personal property, or cancellations made by hoteliers or travel carriers. Valparaiso University counsels students to obtain insurance to protect against these risks and recommends that all students purchase the International Student Identity Card.
Applications for the card are available from Debbie Gleason, Valparaiso Law registrar. Debbie may be reached at debbie.gleason@valpo.edu, and you may submit the completed application and fee of $22 to the Valparaiso University International Studies Office, 137 Meier Hall.
Airport Arrival and Departure
Arrival in Buenos Aires: You will be met at the airport and a bus will take you to the Crystal Suites Apartment Hotel. After you exit customs, walk past the radio taxi booths, exit through the doors, and look for someone holding a sign that reads “Valparaiso University.”
If your flight is significantly delayed or you miss the bus for a different reason, take a taxi from one of the radio taxi booths. The cost is about USD35, and credit cards are accepted. In Buenos Aires, use only the radio taxis.
Return to U.S.: You will be transported to the airport by bus. A USD18 airport exit tax is payable after you check in for your flight. You may pay this tax in U.S. dollars, Argentine pesos, or via credit card.
Arrival in Chile: In Santiago, you are required to pay a visa reciprocity fee of USD 100 that is valid for the life of your passport. You will pay this fee by cash or credit card at a booth located next to Immigration. After clearing customs, a bus will take the class to Vina del Mar.
Departure from Chile: We will return to the airport for departure via bus, also.
Electricity
Chilean electricity runs on a 220 volt current. You will need a 220 volt converter with plugs C and L. In Argentina the electricity runs on a 220 volt current, but the outlets accept plugs C and I. Radio Shack and other electronics stores sell travel kits, and converters are also available in each country. A surge protector is advisable for computers.
Computer/E-mail Access
Computers are available for use in computer labs at Universidad de Valparaiso in Santiago and Universidad del Salvador in Buenos Aires. Valparaiso University School of Law students can access e-mail accounts at groupwise.valpo.edu.
Clothes
Clothes for cool weather (40° to 60° Fahrenheit) will be helpful. Dress clothes are required for some site visits. These include suit or sport coat with tie for men and slacks or skirts for women.
Money
Plan to use credit cards for most purchases. However, ATMs are available for cash access and usually provide the best exchange rate. Remember that there is a charge for using the ATM and for using your credit card abroad. Debit cards also work well. TravelEx issues international debit cards. You can learn more about them at www.travelex.com/us/personal/CP_default.asp?content=cp.
Before leaving the U.S. contact your bank and credit card company to avoid a freeze on your account due to abnormal charges.
The currency in Chile is the Chilean peso. One American dollar is worth approximately 628 pesos.
Tipping: 10 percent in restaurants and hotels. Do not tip taxi drivers, though you may leave them change from the fare. Tip bellhops ChP500 to 1,000 per bag.
Tuition and Fees
Costs for the program are USD $6,500 for tuition, room and board, and fees.
Students arrange their own transportation to and from South America—airfare ranges from USD $700 to 1,100—and are responsible for costs associated with recreational excursions as well as any personal spending.
Travel fees not covered by the program cost include a USD18 airport exit tax in Argentina and a USD $100 visa reciprocity fee upon entry into Chile.
Students can be directed to me for financial aid, we have forms they will need to complete which become available near spring break. As for scholarships, I am unaware of any that are offered for this program. The remainder of the payment is taken directly from their financial aid and is usually due before they leave for the program. It will be automatically deducted from their student account if they are using financial aid or they will receive a bill from Jan Zoladz.
Related Links & Online Resources
South America in Context
CIA World Factbook
Embassy of Chile
Embassy of Argentina
Southern Affairs http://southaffairs.blogspot.com/
People and Places
Valparaiso Times http://www.valparaisotimes.cl/
Chile Information Project http://www.chipsites.com/
Argentina: An Introduction http://www.geographia.com/argentina/index.html
The Buenos Aires Herald http://www.buenosairesherald.com/
Partner Universities
Universidad de Valparaiso
Universidad del Salvador
Universidad de Los Andes
Universidad Austral
Related Films
Missing
Pantecorro
Human Rights NGOs
Association of Relatives of the Disappeared (AFDD)
Manuel Rodríguez 33, Santiago
Tel: 696-0678
Formed in 1975, the AFDD's efforts center on the demand that the truth be told about the fate and whereabouts of the disappeared and that those found responsible for forced disappearances be tried and sentenced for their deeds. The AFDD also works to foster the recovery of historic memory in Chile as well as the individual testimonies describing the events leading up to the disappearances of their loved ones. The AFDD publishes the monthly newsletter Informativo and has chronicled its story in the book, 20 años: Un camino de imagenes, published in 1997.
Amnesty International (AI) Sección Chilena
Compañía 2085, Of. B, Santiago
Casilla Postal 4062, Correo 21, Santiago Chile
Tel: 695-6502; Fax 671-2619
amnistia@entelchile.net
AI Chile works both in the international and national sphere, promoting solidarity with victims of human rights violations. Within Chile, it seeks that the government sign and implement international human rights treaties and promotes legislation that advances the country's legal and constitutional framework in relation to human rights. It also works to foster human rights education.
Diego de Medellin Ecumenical Center (CEDM)
Argomedo 40
Casilla 386 V Santiago 21
Tel: 6341804 Fax: 6351096
cedm@reuna.cl
Founded in 1983, CEDM is an ecumenical center that brings together professionals from the fields of social work, theology and social sciences for training, consultation, and research, at the service of working-class Christians and their base community organizations. CEDM seeks to meld spirituality and economic and socio-political issues. CEDM publishes the journal Pastoral Popular.
Chilean Human Rights Commission
Santa Lucía 162, Santiago
Tel: 633-3995
A group of lawyers concerned about human rights violations founded the Commission in 1978. The Commission issued monthly reports documenting the human rights situation in Chile and created over 100 neighborhood human rights defense committees. Currently (mid-1998), its major concern is human rights education and the development of a culture of human rights. In 1997, with support from the European Union, it began a human rights training program for prison guards.
Corporation for the Promotion and Defense of the Rights of the People (CODEPU))
Brown Sur 150, Nuñoa, Santiago
Tel: 341-5040
info@codepu.mic.cl
CODEPU was founded in late 1980 for human rights defense, advocacy, and research. Its major activities are training, legal assistance to persons whose rights are violated, psycho-therapeutic treatment for victims of human rights violations and their families. It also publishes a bi-monthly news bulletin, Derechos Humanos Hoy.
Documentaction and Archive Foundation of the Vicaria of Solidarity
Erasmo Escala 1884, Piso 3, Santiago
Tel: 696-0470 Fax: 6981212
The Archdiocese of Santiago created the Foundation to protect the legal files pertaining to the 45,000 cases of human rights violations documented by the Vicaria of Solidarity - which closed in 1992 - as well as those documented by its predecessor, the Comite de Cooperacion para la Paz. The Foundation’s microfilm center, computer archives and documentation center, with a bibliographic collection of 1,000 titles related to human rights, 4,000 documents printed by the Vicaria and press files dating from 1973, constitute a unique, national human rights archive.
Organization for Defense of the People (ODEP)
Catedral 1029, Of 508, Santiago, Chile
Casilla 52406, Correo Central
Tel/Fax: 695-2013
odep@reuna.cl
ODEP was founded in 1993 as an organization that defends and promotes human rights, particularly in the post 1990-period. Its publications include the former news bulletin El Werken, and Revista Girasoles. In 1993 it supported the creation of the Pedro Ortiz Cultural Center and in 1997 participated in the creation of the Organization for the Freedom of Political Prisoners. It also collaborates with a Web page on Chilean political prisoners.
PIDEE - Foundation for the Protection of Children Injured by States of Exception
Holanda 3587 Interior, Nunoa
Tel: 204-2735, Fax: 225-8752
pidee@reuna.cl
Founded in 1979, PIDEE provides medical, psychological and educational assistance to children and teenagers who have suffered, either directly or indirectly, from the repression and violence of the military regime. It also conducts research into the effects of repression on childhood and adolescence.
This list and text courtesy of the Chilean Information Project, www.chipsites.com