The Law School houses the Ateneo Human Rights Center (AHRC) which was established in October 1986 as among the first university-based institutions for the protection and promotion of human rights in the Philippines.

The AHRC seeks to realize its mandate through programs focused on the continuing formulation of human rights lawyers and advocates, the monitoring of the human rights situation in the Philippines and abroad, research, education, publications, and legal assistance to victims of human rights violations.

The Center also acts as Secretariat of the Law Association for Asia and the Pacific (LAWASIA) Human Rights Standing Committee.

As a university-based institution, the Center makes use of valuable resources of the University and the Law School. Volunteer law professors, alumni practitioners and law students also provide the Center with considerable staff support in the implementation of its various programs.

AHRC offers various programs where law students may participate on a purely voluntary basis. Among them is the Internship Program where law students are assigned to work for a limited period with human rights groups around the Philippines. They engage in a wide range of human rights-related activities which include, among others, legal research and writing, field investigation, lectures on human rights issues, and court appearances.

 

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