The use of cinema for human rights education: Reflections from law schools

Abstract

This article examines the use of non-traditional teaching tools, such as cinema, to address human rights education for law students at two higher education institutions. As part of this approach, the film The Precocious and Brief Life of Sabina Rivas was used to highlight regional issues in Latin America that directly relate to structural challenges affecting human rights. These include structural vulnerability, intersectionality, gender-based violence, oppression, migration, among others. The film was analyzed in a guided manner by instructors along with the students, allowing for the identification of social issues that perpetuate human rights violations. The objective was to foster awareness and sensitivity among students, enabling a meaningful, holistic, and empathetic learning experience that promotes the protection of human dignity and rights. The main finding suggests that this teaching tool facilitates a comprehensive and nuanced understanding of human rights and is proposed as a way to fulfill the international imperative of educating future lawyers on human rights.