Abstract:

At the present time, human rights violations are spreading all across the globe at an increasingly rapid pace. From the remotest parts of the world to those geographical areas where people depend on their traditional territories and natural resources to survive –both physically and spiritually–, transnational corporations are prioritizing their economic interests over the respect of human rights without thinking twice. One of the most affected groups by these practices are indigenous peoples, whose rights are protected under a number of specialized international instruments worthy of the utmost respect. These peoples conceive their habitats as representative of a worldview in which protection, care and awe for their environment reach deep levels related to the sacred. While these topics remain unknown for many of those living in so-called developed countries, we believe university students cannot ignore what is happening beyond their borders. That is why our proposal aims at providing undergraduate students –in particular, law students enrolled in state ecclesiastical law and private international law– with cases from all around the world in order that they carry out critical legal analysis through a collaborative learning strategy. To this end, students must organize themselves and work in small groups so as to gather all the information available about the facts of the case allocated to each of them, as well as all the reports and official documents that it might have given rise to. If there exists a judgment by a national or international court on the case allocated, a critical analysis on the merits of the case should be carried out. Otherwise, when the case has not obtained a judicial decision yet, the main task of the group will consist in providing a possible solution in accordance with the applicable law. All of this will increase students’ understanding of the problems and human rights violations caused by business interests worldwide and, above all, it will improve their teamwork skills while helping them to develop their legal reasoning capacity on current affairs.

Keywords:

Land grabbing, human rights violations, right to religious freedom, indigenous peoples, collaborative learning.