Pedro Silva
Report of GLOMAR PhD student Pedro Silva about his research stay at the University of Chile from 1 September 2017 to 27 February 2018
My PhD project examines the relationship between the protection of the environment and human rights in the American region. The specific objective is to elaborate, through a complete analysis of the case-law produced by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, a comprehensive study establishing how this judicial body deals with cases where environmental problems endanger the enjoyment of human rights. Mainly because of the regional social context, Inter-American human rights law has very special features that are not found in other human rights systems. To conduct my research, thus, it was crucial to count with the support of Latin-American experts in the regional human rights system, indigenous peoples’ rights and environmental law. With the help of GLOMAR, this was possible. They provided me the funding to do a research stay in the Centre for Environmental Law (Centro de Derecho Ambiental) of the University of Chile, from 1 September 2017 to 27 February 2018, under the supervision of Professors Valentina Duran and Pilar Moraga, both renown academics in Chile and the Spanish speaking legal community.
During the research stay, I had full access to all kind of legal sources related to the Inter-American Human Rights System and environmental law developments in the region. I was able to learn how Chile and neighbouring countries are dealing with the environmentally harmful effects from development activities, in human and indigenous peoples’ rights. I met and could have daily conversations with the professors of human rights law, environmental law and international law, from the University of Chile. Also, I could attend several academic activities and get in touch with experts from different universities in all these areas, discuss with them about my work and receive their valuable input. Besides, this opportunity also gave me a formed idea, from first-hand, regarding the current state of the art on my area of interest within the Latin-American academia.
While spending this time in the Centre for Environmental Law, I was offered to contribute to the University of Chile’s Journal on Environmental Law, as a reviewer for two articles related to my areas of interest. Also, I was invited by Prof. Pilar Moraga to write a jurisprudential comment on a decision of the Chilean Constitutional Tribunal to be published in “Actualidad Jurídica Ambiental (AJA), a Spanish web-publication on environmental law. Finally, I also had the opportunity to attend, in representation of the Centre, to public consultation sessions organised by the Chilean Foreign Affairs Ministry to provide information and promote public participation in relation to international instruments that include environmental chapters, such as the TPP, which currently are in negotiation process. This enabled me to experience how mechanisms of public participation on environmental decision-making, an essential environmental human right, work in practice.
In addition to all this, due to the long stay, I also had the time to get to know other PhD students and practitioners working in areas related to human rights and environmental and climate change law. Most important, I was able to keep writing my thesis and comply with my timeframe.
Overall, my research stay in the University of Chile was a wonderful experience in all aspects, personally and professionally. My research benefited from it and the objectives were successfully accomplished. I got new experiences by participating in academic activities, I had access to the information and expertise I needed for completing my research and I received fresh insights and ideas from my hosts. Thanks to this, I am currently close to finish writing my thesis. Finally, I was able to establish and expand my scientific and professional network and learn more about the legal research culture in Chile, my homeland, and more generally, the Latin community.
Thus, I would like thank GLOMAR for providing the financial support for this extraordinary experience, all this would not have been possible without them. Also, I would like to thank my supervisor for all his support. Finally, I strongly encourage all PhD students to go on a research stay abroad.
