How can universities and civil society work together to promote human rights and social justice? One important way for universities to contribute to improved human rights protection in society is through legal clinics and Clinical Legal Education (CLE). Legal clinics aim to increase access to justice for groups in situations of vulnerability, by empowering individuals and groups in situations of vulnerability to be able to claim their rights. In order to reach these aims, legal clinics can build strategic alliances with important social stakeholders, such as civil society organisations.
Learn more about legal clinics and CLE, as well as their connection to human rights and social justice.
Felisa Tibbitts describes the relationship between Human Rights and Clinical Legal Education
The project “Promoting Social Justice through the Cooperation Between Non Governmental Organisations and Legal Clinics in Belarus, Poland and Sweden” aimed to reinforce strategic cooperation between NGOs and legal clinics can serve to promote a greater enjoyment of rights for groups in situations of vulnerability.
“We did this by analysing different models of cooperation in Poland and Sweden, and by developing capacities on CLE methodologies and how a Human Rights Based Approach can be applied to CLE”, , says David Eile, Senior Programme Manager. “In addition, opportunities were created for peer-learning and exchanges of knowledge and good practices between legal clinics and NGOs in the participating countries”.
The project was implemented by the Raoul Wallenberg Institute, the Polish Legal Clinics Foundation (PLCF), and independent experts from Belarus, and funded by the Nordic Council of Ministers.
Main activities implemented
Study Visit to Warsaw and Krakow, Poland 11-15 October 2022
On 11-15th of October 2022, a study visit to Poland was organised by the Polish Legal Clinics Foundation. Participants included the Disability and Human Rights Clinic of RWI/Lund University, students, NGO representatives, and CLE experts from Belarus and Sweden.
During the visit, the participants met with several legal clinics tied to universities throughout Warsaw and Krakow to discuss and share best practices. The visited universities were Krakow University, SWPS University, Lazarski University and Jagellonian University. The group also met with the Helsinki Foundation for Human Rights to discuss how strategic litigation can be incorporated into CLE and the promotion of social justice. In addition, workshops on CLE teaching methodologies and soft skills were organised at the office of the Polish Legal Clinics Foundation.
Dr Filip Czernicki, President of the Polish Legal Clinics Foundation, was the organiser of the study visit to Poland. Filip Czernicki works on promoting and establishing of legal clinics in Poland and Eastern Europe, as well as promotion of professional lawyers’ pro bono activity. Since 2002 he has been the President of the Polish Legal Clinics Foundation, member of the Steering Committee of the Global Alliance for Justice Education (since 2009 President) and Head of the Supervision Council of the Polish National Union of NGOs.
Måns Olsson, Student, Lund Disability Human Rights Clinic
The main connection between HR and CLE, that I see, is that people without access to legal aid get this through the Human Rights Clinics.My image of Human Rights was rather slim before and mostly restricted to the most well know human rights or civil rights. Now, with the clinics, I have worked with the rights of blind people which is an area that might not be at the centre of the ECHR. We have therefore had to stretch the limits of the ECHR and use it together with other more specific conventions such as the CRPD.
See what students and professors think about Clinical Legal Education
Workshop in Lund, 27-28 October 2022
During the workshop in Lund, legal clinics and NGOs from the partner countries had the opportunity to work further on issues related to participation and pedagogy within CLE.
The workshop explored how legal clinics and NGOs can relate to frameworks, theories and approaches based on human rights, principles and notions of participation, and critical and transformative pedagogy, in order to enrich existing CLE practices. The workshop also provided spaces for interactive group work and sharing of knowledge, practices, and experiences between participants.
Key resource persons during the Lund workshop included:
Dr Anna Bruce is a researcher at RWI and Director of the Lund Disability Human Rights Clinic. She presented on General comment No. 7 (2018) on the participation of persons with disabilities in the implementation and monitoring of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
Dr Teresa Cappiali is a researcher at RWI and has a project on alternative pedagogies and human rights to solve conflicts around diversity and promote the inclusion of marginalized groups in society. She presented about the potential of transformative pedagogy for further development of CLE.
Professor Felisa Tibbitts is an expert on issues relating to human rights and global democratic citizenship education, critical pedagogy, education and social movements and human rights and higher education transformation. During the Lund workshop, Tibbitts discussed and facilitated a group work together with Teresa Cappiali regarding how of transformative and critical pedagogy can be related to CLE. She also presented a checklist on how a Human Rights Based Approach can be applied to CLE, which has been developed as part of the project.
Siarhei Salei is an independent expert with expertise in Legal Clinics in Belarus. He was one of the persons that initiated the legal clinics movement in Belarus in the 1990s and has been involved in various project within academia and international cooperation, specialising in non-formal education in law, human rights and history. During the workshop in Lund, Siarhei facilitated a session on the concept of “The Ladder of Participation”, developed by Arnstein, and its relevance for participatory CLE practices.
Project Results: What We Achieved
Mapping models of cooperation between legal clinics and NGOs/CSOs
In line with the overall aim of the project to strengthen strategic cooperation between legal clinics and CSOs/NGOs and thus promote a greater enjoyment of rights within socially vulnerable groups, two mapping reports were written. This was to document and raise awareness of cooperation mechanisms between these actors with specific attention to equal participation in agenda setting and formulating objectives directly informed by the social needs of groups in situation of vulnerability. As a result, the reports assess the cooperation of three clinics in in each country, and thus how the cooperation contributes to the legal capability and outreach of the clinics.
Self-Assessment Checklist for the Human Rights-Based Approach in Clinical Legal Education
To help legal clinics to adopt a Human Rights Based Approach, a checklist was developed during the project. Its purpose is to act as a tool for assessment of legal clinics. Staff of the legal clinics can check whether their work is in line with the UN definitions and goals about human rights and thus discover any possible distortions in their work.
Get in touch
David Eile
David Eile currently works as a Senior Programme Officer responsible for various projects under RWI’s Europe Office, focusing on different forms of academic cooperation in Europe and Cuba. Since joining RWI in 2006, David worked with various human rights programmes in Africa, Asia, Europe, and Latin America. David has an MA in Anthropology from Lund University and is a doctoral candidate in Cultural Anthropology at the University of Uppsala.
Anna Bruce
Anna Bruce is a legal scholar specialising in international human rights law, with particular expertise in equality and non-discrimination, disability rights, gender equality and the evolution of rights. Her research combines conceptual and normative analysis with empirical investigation of the conditions required for effective implementation of human rights at national and local levels.
Research Focus
Bruce examines how conceptions of humanity and human diversity, as well as the architecture of international human rights law, shape the evolution of rights through interpretation and the negotiation of new conventions. She contributed to the negotiations of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (CRPD) and continues to analyse how the Convention both upholds the universality of human rights and responds to disability as a historically neglected dimension of human diversity.
Building on her CRPD research, she explores the evolution of equality and non-discrimination in international law, including how disability, gender, age, and migration intersect to produce distinct patterns of exclusion—and corresponding legal responses.
Bruce’s research also addresses the international, national and local infrastructure responsible for implementing and monitoring international human rights norms. Her work focuses both on clarifying actionable state obligations and on identifying and overcoming systemic barriers within legislative, executive, and judicial institutions.
Engagement and Outreach
Bruce collaborates with Swedish public authorities, civil society organisations, municipalities, and international institutions such as the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights. At the Raoul Wallenberg Institute (RWI), she leads the Institute’s work within FRANET, conducting national research and analysis for the EU Fundamental Rights Agency on developments concerning fundamental rights in Sweden.
Through these engagements, she translates normative and theoretical insights into tools, methodologies, policy guidance, public outreach and capacity development initiatives aimed at strengthening the realisation of human rights in Sweden and in RWI’s partner countries.
Teaching
Bruce teaches at Lund University at undergraduate, master’s, and doctoral levels, and supervises PhD candidates, in human rights, equality law, disability law, and research methodology. Her teaching integrates research-based insights with applied methods, supporting students in bridging theory and practice.
Through collaboration with civil society organisations in the Lund Disability Human Rights Clinic (Människorättspraktik) at the Faculty of Law, she supports students in working together with professional lawyers on real cases argued before the Swedish Supreme Court and the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. Her pedagogical approach emphasises critical reflection, ethical awareness, and the ability to translate legal norms into concrete legal argumentation and institutional strategies.
Current Projects
Current projects include a monograph for Brill on the evolution of international human rights law through the conceptual development of equality, disability diversity, and rights/obligations, as well as an entry on the CRPD in the Elgar Encyclopaedia of Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law.