2019 International Postgraduate Fellowships

Experience: Human Rights Clinic, Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, UNLP, student; Facultad de Ciencias Jurídicas y Sociales, UNLP, teaching assistant; Revista de Interés Público, UNLP, editor; Chambers of Appeals of Buenos Aires, clerk; Columbia Human Rights Institute, research assistant; Columbia Center on Sustainable Investment, intern; Human Rights and Economic Policy, Center for Economic and Social Rights, intern; Columbia Human Rights Fellow

Motivation: “Enrolling in the human rights clinic at the Universidad Nacional de La Plata was a turning point in my career. It was a transformative experience that showed me a different path for lawyers. When I think of working with impoverished communities again to design creative legal solutions and promote social change, I have the same feelings I did as a 21-year-old student joining the clinic. Now, as a more mature lawyer, I feel that I am going back to my roots, but with a set of new tools and ideas to innovate. My ultimate goal is to start building a platform for new activists advocating to improve educational policies in Argentina.”

Goals: “CIDC is a group of experienced activists formed to promote social change in one of the most disadvantaged and neglected areas of Argentina. As a fellow there, I will promote equal access to education and position children’s rights in the public debate by pursuing two goals: helping the community of Moreno in Buenos Aires, Argentina, in their advocacy around access to education, and documenting and sharing Moreno’s case to reveal more structural problems in educational policy in the province of Buenos Aires. My work will be the basis of advocacy for long-lasting educational policies, a human rights-based assessment of access to education in a context of poverty, and the strengthening of community voices as an active part of the process.”

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The office of Social Justice Initiatives (SJI) guides Columbia Law School students who want to pursue public interest work throughout their academic careers and after graduation. SJI also assists in the process of applying to prestigious postgraduate fellowships. Read about other 2019 international public interest postgraduate fellows.

Published May 6, 2019