The Center for Legal and Social Studies is an Argentine human rights organization created in 1979, during the last military dictatorship, which promotes the protection of rights and their effective exercise, justice and social inclusion, at the national and international level.
In its first years, CELS carried out the fight for truth and justice for crimes committed by State terrorism. At the end of the 1980s, it expanded its agenda to human rights violations that occurred in democracy, its structural causes and its relationship with social inequality. The actions of CELS are aimed at consolidating the democratic State, influencing public policies, expanding the effective exercise of rights, supporting victims and seeking justice.
Since its inception, CELS has articulated national and international work, particularly with respect to universal and regional protection mechanisms. In recent years, strategies have expanded toward participation in international discussions on human rights from a Latin American perspective. In this way, CELS is consolidating itself as a national organization with a global agenda.
Today the main areas of work are: memory, truth and justice for crimes committed within the framework of State terrorism; institutional violence and incarceration policies as areas of human rights violation; social inclusion and economic, social and cultural rights, especially in relation to access to land and a decent habitat; public policies on mental health; justice system reforms, migrant rights, sexual and reproductive rights, and freedom of expression.
To carry out this agenda, CELS uses national and international strategic litigation, research, alliances with other organizations, advocacy on public policies and communication. This work is carried out in alliance with other national, regional and international organizations and movements.