Public Interest Foundation
Who we are and what we do
Corporación Interés Público (Public Interest Foundation) is a nonprofit legal entity formed by a group of lawyers committed to strengthening rule of law, protecting fundamental rights, and promoting social justice and citizen participation. In order to achieve these purposes, we develop three types of activities: Strategic Litigation, Academic Research and Extension Activities. Our goal is to make a positive impact on the legal system, political authorities, and the political and democratic culture of society in general, both in Chile and Latin America.
Strategic Litigation
In the area of Strategic Litigation, we sponsor high-impact local and international legal cases in issues related:
a) Social Rights, b) Consumer Rights, c) Workers’ Rights, d) Anti- discriminatory Practices, e) Freedom of Expression and; f) State Responsibility. In all our legal cases we seek to visibilize the violation of fundamental rights and the need to make progress in providing institutional responses to such infringements, thus fostering the protection and monitoring of the rule of law.
Academic Research
One of our overriding aims is to promote the study of human rights, the protection of the environment and the due regulation of conflicts among individuals and with the State, contributing to the design of legal and judiciary initiatives aimed at strengthening fair and efficient public solutions in a democratic context. Through these projects, we seek to take our academic work beyond the classroom in order to promote the active role played by the legal community and the civil society in the monitoring and control of political authorities, the courts and the legislation.
Extension Activities
We believe in fostering public discussion and raising awareness of public interest issues. To this end, we participate, organize and promote –jointly with other institutions- training courses, seminars, conferences and social, academic and professional forums in order to generate a deliberative and informed atmosphere on fundamental rights and the demands involved therein for the State and the private world.
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Team
Public Interest Foundation operates with a team composed of expert academicians and lawyers specialized in different fields, all of whom share the following common goal: the consolidation of the Rule of Law through the respect for, protection and guarantee of human rights:
- Nicolás Espejo
- Sergio Espejo
- Sergio Fuenzalida
- Matías Guiloff
- Domingo Lovera
- Carlos Pizarro
- Anuar Quesille
- Patricia Rada
- Macarena Rivas
- José Luis Ugarte
Areas of Interest
a) Social Rights
We believe that social rights such as the right to adequate housing, health care, education, water and others are fundamental rights which have the same relevance as civil and political rights such as freedom of expression, equality before the law, due process of law or respect for private life. Consequently, via litigation and academic and professional promotion we work to include the legal standards set forth in the Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the main obligations derived from the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights.
Without prejudice to our interest in every social right, our works is currently is focused on two rights in particular: the right to adequate housing and the right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health.
b) Labor Rights
In a country with such a high level of wage inequality, extremely long working days, wage rate discriminations in subcontracting, and rampant harassment of trade union activity and collective bargaining, it is only fair to create the necessary spaces to effectively vindicate labor rights as constitutional guarantees. The purpose of a worker mobilization is not to collect money for the “next revolution” but rather to improve the workers’ income so that they can take part in the same market in which they are offered so much as consumers but are strongly despised as workers.
In Chile, trade union membership is close to 11%, collective bargaining coverage is 6% and the right to strike actually covers less than 2% of workers. Therefore, one may wonder whether a more democratic, fair and egalitarian society may be built in a country in which a large majority of anonymous workers live in an atmosphere of imbalance, deprivation, and with no bargaining capacity whatsoever. Why should Chilean workers not aspire to be treated the way workers are treated in the best democracies of the world?
In the light of the status of labor rights in Chile, we do research, promote discussion and litigate actively for the protection of union rights and the freedom of expression of trade unions in both the public and private sector.
c) Consumer Rights
Even though some progress has been made in Chile with the promulgation of the Consumer Protection Act in 1996 and the implementation of the National Consumer Service (SERNAC), it is not possible to state that consumer rights are protected in an effective way.
The above has driven us to work actively in litigation, promotion and research of consumer rights, particularly in areas related to social rights such as the right to adequate housing, education, and health care, among others. Our main aim is to take consumer rights “seriously”, giving support to civil society organizations in their role of making visible, implementing and defending consumer rights. In short, we believe that in a free market context, consumer rights are an essential tool for both the defense of individuals and groups and the correct operation of the rules of free exchange of goods and services.
d) Anti-discriminatory Practices
We are aware that discriminatory practices are a constant feature of Chilean society, and therefore we are actively involved in defending discriminated individuals and groups and in promoting anti-discriminatory practices academically and professionally. With a special focus on discrimination based on gender and national origin, we litigate cases linked to employment and education discrimination, and practices of violence against particularly vulnerable groups, especially sexual minorities. In addition, we participate in forums and public debates on the need to reform Chilean legislation according to the international obligations assumed by the Chilean Government in anti-discriminatory issues, and which constitute the nerve of the principles of constitutional and democratic rule of law.
e) Freedom of Expression
The right to freedom of expression is the essential right to express not only ideas which are favorably received by all members of society but also the right to access, issue and disseminate information that may be deemed disturbing, shocking and even offensive. Freedom of expression, as the cornerstone of a democratic society, is a fundamental condition for such society to be sufficiently informed to be able to make decisions of all kinds under a framework of maximum attainable awareness of reality.
In the light of this democratic notion of freedom of expression, our work is largely focused on the development of strategies to access information of public interest in important topics such as security, the environment, and the essential activities and documents of Government agencies. Additionally, we actively work to protect the broadest freedom to express the political, sexual and cultural opinion of the entire society and of workers and minorities in particular. Finally, we are interested in defending and gradually widening the channels of citizen participation in the design, control and implementation of public policies and laws in areas as sensitive as economic regulation, environmental protection and sectoral policies related to indigenous issues, childhood and minorities particularly isolated from the political representation processes.
f) State Responsibility
The full and free exercise of fundamental rights rests upon the idea that States are obliged to respect and guarantee such rights.
As for the obligation to respect, the States and their agencies are obliged not to violate the rights of the individuals and groups within their jurisdiction. By virtue of the guarantee obligation, the States are obligated to prevent, investigate, punish and redress human rights violations, or all the cases in which the State or a private entity might be found responsible for an infringement of those rights. The State’s responsibility takes the form of a continuum of obligations going from negative to positive, and these are geared towards full satisfaction of human rights in a democratic society.
Being aware of this regulatory framework for State responsibility, our work in this area is focused on developing judiciary and legal strategies to consolidate the idea of a State that responds adequately to harm infringed on the population as a result of both its direct involvement in human rights violations and the lack of protection and services required. This concern is expressed in a series of lawsuits and initiatives filed before national and international courts and organs of supervision in order to determine the State’s responsibility in human rights violations against populations affected by poor-quality housing, deficient health care, gender discrimination, refusal to provide access to information of public interest, and unnecessary violence, among others.