ABOUT CEJIL

We defend rights
to change realities.

The Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) is an organization of human rights defenders founded in 1991 that works to reduce inequality and violence by strengthening democracies, protecting and promoting human rights, and combating impunity in the Americas.

CEJIL represents more than 10,000 victims and beneficiaries of protection measures, in more than 300 cases and protection measures (precautionary and provisional) before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACHR). The organization develops this work along with more than 400 allied organizations with the purpose of restoring the rights of the victims and changing the realities that made the violation of their rights possible.

Today, CEJIL is a reference in the defense of human rights not only thanks to its use of the mechanisms of the Inter-American Human Rights System (ISHR) or its expertise in international law, but also because of its presence and its activities to promote the guarantee of rights through lobbying, training, positioning of issues, forums, story-telling, publications, etc.

Mission

To achieve its vision, CEJIL acts as a transformative force that defends rights in order to change realities, through collective processes that make use of the Inter-American Human Rights System and international human rights law. Our geographic focus is the American continent, but our vision is aware of the links that bind us to national, regional, interregional and global processes.

Vision

CEJIL‘s vision is a fully democratic American continent where individuals and peoples can exercise their rights in freedom. We aspire to live in a region free of violence and inequality, with strong institutions based on the rule of law that guarantee public practices and policies in accordance with international human rights standards, and agile and effective regional protection. We are inspired to work with the horizon of a continent inserted in a peaceful, sustainable, inclusive, just, and egalitarian world.

About our work on human mobility in Mesoamerica:

Beginning in 2019, CEJIL’s work will focus on the situation of people in human mobility in Mexico and Central America, as well as on the structural causes and triggers of these mobilizations and the international obligations they entail for the states of the region. This work is carried out with the objective of adapting regulations and practices to international human rights standards, stopping the most aggressive measures, in order to guarantee the human rights of migrants, displaced persons, refugees and those in need of international protection. 

From the areas of strategic litigation, advocacy and communication, CEJIL makes a strategic contribution to guaranteeing the rights of the migrant population by: 

  • Addressing the issue of human mobility from a human rights perspective and the articulation between Central American and Mexican organizations and international protection spaces. 

  • The analysis of migration from a regional perspective, which is necessary for advocacy actions with civil society actors, decision makers and public opinion.

  • The documentation and transfer of information on the structural causes of human mobility in the region to key actors.

  • Working to guarantee human rights by protecting the Inter-American System, involving other international actors from a continental perspective, and promoting the exchange of experiences and good practices.