International Fair Trial Day Conference and the Ebru Timtik Award Ceremony*
14 June 2023 / Mexico City, Mexico
10:00 – 18:00 CST
In-Person & Online Event (Simultaneous interpretation Spanish and English provided)
Venue: Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM Circuito, Mario de La Cueva s/n, C.U., Coyoacán 04510 Mexico City, Mexico Room: Dr. Guillermo Floris Margadant
Registration for in-person and online participation: HERE
AGENDA
10:00 -10:20
Opening Remarks
– Carolina Villadiego Burbano, Latin America Team Leader, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
– Arturo Pueblita Fernández, President, Ilustre y Nacional Colegio de Abogados de México (INCAM)
– Mónica González Contró, Director, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas (UNAM)
10:20 -10:50
Moderator
– Cath Kent, Programme Lawyer, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Keynote Speeches
– Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Inter-American Commission of Human Rights
– Judge Ricardo Perez Manrique, President, Inter-American Court of Human Rights (video message)
– Margaret Satterthwaite, United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers (video message)
10:50 – 11:50
Setting the Scene: Systemic Fair Trial Rights Concerns in Mexico
Moderator:
– Oscar Cruz Barney, President, Mexican National Committee, International Association of Lawyers (UIA)
Speakers:
– José Luis Caballero, ICJ Commissioner, Professor at the Iberoamericana University
– Pedro Salazar, Researcher, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM
– Laurence Pantin, Program Coordinator for Transparency in Justice and Special Projects, México Evalúa
11.50 – 12.10
Coffee Break
12:10-13:40
From Rights to Justice: Unveiling the Interplay Between Human Rights and Due Process in Mexico
Moderator:
– Barbara Spinelli, Co-president, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH)
Speakers:
– Roberto López Miguel, Lawyer, Colectivo Los Otros Abogadoz
– Victorico Gálvez Pérez, Lawyer, HRC Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas
– Valentina Rosendo Cantú, Human Rights Defender, Indigenous Me’phaa community, State of Guerrero
– Martha Figueroa Mier, Lawyer, Women’s rights defender, Chiapas
13:40-14:40
Lunch break
14:40 – 16:10
Seeking Accountability: Responses to Enforced Disappearances and Summary Executions
Moderator:
– Carolina Villadiego Burbano, Latin America Team Leader, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Speakers:
– Ana Lorena Delgadillo Pérez, Executive Director, Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho
– Tita Radilla, Vice-president, Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared in Mexico (AFADEM)
– Santiago Aguirre, Director, Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro ProDH)
16:10 – 16:40
Coffee Break
16:40 -17.45
Ebru Timtik Award Ceremony
Moderator:
– Eleonora Scala, Programme Coordinator, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Speakers:
– Diego García Sayán, Former UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Former President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
– Şerife Ceren Uysal, Co-secretary General of European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH), Executive Member of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD)
– Mirta Kupferminc, Independent multidisciplinary artist – Representative of the Ebru Timtik Award Selection Committee – Awardee(s)
17:45 – 18:00
Closing
– Ayşe Bingöl Demir, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH), Director of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project
*The Organising Committee of the 2023 International Fair Trial Day and Ebru Timtik Award consists of Bologna Bar Association; Défense Sans Frontière Avocats Solidaires (DSF-AS); European Association of Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH); European Bars Federation (FBE); European Democratic Lawyers (EDL-AED); French
National Bar Council (CNB); International Association of Democratic Lawyers (IADL); Institute for the Rule of Law of the International Association of Lawyers (UIA-IROL); International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI); International Commission of Jurists (ICJ); Italian National Bar Council (CNF); Law Society of England and Wales, Lawyers for Lawyers (L4L); Association of Lawyers for Freedom (ÖHD); Progressive Lawyers Association (ÇHD); and Republikanischer Anwältinnen- und Anwälteverein e. V. (RAV).
The Organising Committee would like to thank the following local bar associations for their support:
Ilustre Nacional Colegio de Abogados de México (INCAM)
Asociación Nacional de Abogados de Empresa (ANADE)
Barra Mexicana, Colegio de Abogados, A.C. (BMA)
Consejo General de la Abogacía Mexicana (CGAM)
SPEAKER’S BIOS
CAROLINA VILLADIEGO BURBANO
Latin America Team Leader, International Commission of Jurists (ICJ)
Carolina is a Colombian lawyer from the Universidad de los Andes. He has a Master’s Degree in Law (LLM) from the University of George Washington in the United States, and a Master’s Degree in Political Science and Sociology from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO). Her professional experience has focused on justice systems and their connection with human rights in Latin America, and on developing advocacy strategies in these fields.
Carolina has participated as a teacher in some universities, especially in topics related to the justice system functioning.
She worked with several institutions, including the Ombudsman’s Office of Colombia, the Justice Studies Center of the Americas (JSCA) and the Center for Law, Justice and Society Studies (Dejusticia). Currently, she is Legal Counsel for Latin America of the International Commission of Jurists and is currently part of the Board of Director at Dejusticia.
MÓNICA GONZÁLEZ CONTRÓ
Director, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas
Mónica González Contró is an academic and human rights advocate, especially those of children and adolescents. She holds a PhD in Fundamental Rights from the Universidad Autónoma de Madrid and has been a researcher at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México since 2005.
In addition to her academic work, she has held various positions within the University. She has been Academic Secretary of the Institute of Legal Research (2011-2015) and General Counsel of UNAM (2015 to 2020).
She has participated in collegiate bodies of public and private institutions for the defense of human rights. She has been Counselor of the Federal District Human Rights Commission, Member of the Advisory Assembly of the Council to Prevent Discrimination of Mexico City, Counselor of the National Human Rights Commission, Member of the Advisory Council of the Integral System for the Protection of Children and Adolescents and member of the Board of Directors of the Federal Public Defender’s Office, among other appointments.
ARTURO PUEBLITA FERNÁNDEZ
President, Ilustre y Nacional Colegio de Abogados de México INCAM
Arturo Pueblita Fernández holds a law degree from the Ibero-American University in Mexico City.
He completed a specialization and a master’s degree in tax law at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City. Since 2003, he has been dedicated to litigation and consulting in tax matters, and in 2011 he founded the law firm Pueblita Abogados.
He has been an Administrative Law and Tax Law professor at the Ibero-American University since 2007. He is also a professor in the postgraduate course in Tax Law at the Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City.
He is President of the Ilustre y Nacional Colegio de Abogados de México INCAM since 2020. At the Mexican Academy of Tax Law, he was president of the National Board of Directors for the period 2017-2021. In the Latin American Institute of Tax Law, he is a full member of the Board of Directors representing Mexico. He is the Regional Secretary for the Americas of the International Association of Lawyers, a worldwide organization based in France.
CATH KENT
Programme Lawyer, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Cath Kent is a Programme Lawyer at the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute, where she works on human rights in the administration of justice with a focus on torture prevention, enforced disappearances, and the death penalty. She works with legal professionals and human rights defenders worldwide to design and deliver rights-based and gender-sensitive programmes, including capacity building, technical assistance, and advocacy. She is also a member of the UK Lay Observers, who monitor detention in court custody as part of the UK’s National Preventive Mechanism, and of the UK Government’s Civilian Stabilisation Group, a membership body of individuals who can deploy to fragile and conflict affected states to assist the UK Government in addressing instability. Prior to joining the IBAHRI, Cath worked as a Human Rights Officer for the OSCE Mission in Kosovo. She holds an LLM in International Human Rights and Humanitarian Law from the University of Essex and an LLB (Hons) from the University of Nottingham.
ESMERALDA AROSEMENA DE TROITIÑO
Inter-American Commission of Human Rights
Commissioner Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño was re-elected by the General Assembly of the OAS during its 49th Regular Period of Sessions, on June 28, 2019, for a further four-year term from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2023. In her first term as a commissioner (2016-2019), she served as President of the IACHR during 2019.
She held office in Panama’s judiciary: she was a Justice of the Supreme Court, of which she was vice-president; she also presided the Chamber for Criminal Cases, and was a judge on the High Court on children and adolescent affairs. She participated in the Special Commission that proposed constitutional reforms in Panama on 2011, and on the Commission that elaborated the Code of Constitutional Procedures in 2016. She has a degree in Philosophy, Letters and Education, with a specialization in Pedagogy, as well as a degree in Law and Political Science. Her post-graduate studies are in gender, with a specialization in family and childhood, as well as constitutional affairs. She is an academic and a professor at the University of Panama, the Superior Judicial Institute and Panama’s Judicial Authority.
She collaborates with the Public Prosecutor’s Office School with regards to the new criminal system and in the subject of juvenile criminal justice. She is a consultant on childhood, adolescence, women and family for international organizations. She was also an ad honorem consultant in the elaboration, debates and approval of important legislation on these matters for Panama’s legislative authority. She is a citizen of Panama.
JUEZ RICARDO PÉREZ MANRIQUE
President, Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Ricardo César Pérez Manrique is a Uruguayan lawyer, President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights since January 2022. Previously, he had been a judge of the Court itself and a Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of Uruguay.
He graduated from the Universidad de la República with the degree of Doctor in Law and Social Sciences in 1973; in 1974 he also revalidated his degree at the Universidad de Buenos Aires, practising law in Argentina.
In 1989 he entered the judiciary in Uruguay, where he had a long career. He was appointed Minister of the Supreme Court of Justice of Uruguay on March 28, 2012.
MARGARET SATTERTHWAITE
United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers
Ms. Margaret Satterthwaite was appointed as United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers by the Human Rights Council in October 2022. Professor Satterthwaite is an international human rights scholar and practitioner with decades of experience in the field. She is a Professor of Clinical Law at New York University School of Law, where she directs the Global Justice Clinic and serves as a faculty director of the Robert and Helen Bernstein Institute for Human Rights and the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice.
Her scholarship has focused on access to justice, legal empowerment, and methodological innovation in human rights, among other topics, and she has published several edited volumes and dozens of articles and book chapters. Professor Satterthwaite has worked with individuals and communities seeking to realize their rights around the world, including in Guyana, Haiti, Kenya, Nigeria, Northern Ireland, Uganda, the United States, and Yemen. She has litigated in international and domestic fora, including the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights.
Professor Satterthwaite graduated magna cum laude from NYU School of Law. She clerked for a US Court of Appeals judge and subsequently for judges of the International Court of Justice. She has worked for a variety of human rights organizations, including Amnesty International USA, where she co-founded and then directed the organization’s program to defend the human rights of those persecuted on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity. She also worked with Street Law, Human Rights First, and the Haitian Truth and Justice Commission. She has also served as a human rights consultant and advising expert to the World Health Organization, the World Bank, and two UN Special Rapporteurs. She has been a member of the boards of directors of several human rights organizations, including Amnesty International USA, the Global Initiative on Economic and Social Rights, the International Service for Human Rights, and Digital Democracy.
OSCAR CRUZ BARNEY
President, Mexican National Committee, International Association of Lawyers (UIA)
Graduated with honors from the Universidad Iberoamericana in 1995, Oscar Cruz Barney also holds a Ph.D. in Law from the Universidad Panamericana, which he obtained in 2005. In 2012, his law degree was officially validated as a Spanish degree by the Ministerio de Educación, Cultura y Deporte de España.
Since 1992, he is a partner of Cruz Abogados (formerly Rodolfo Cruz Miramontes), an activity he couples with his work as a potential arbitrator of the Centro de Arbitraje de México (CAM) and of the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris (ICC), as well as his research work at the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM.
Recently accredited as a mediator, arbitrator, negotiator, and ombudsman by the Federation of Integrated Conflict Management – The Mediation and Conciliation Network, Dr. Cruz Barney also serves as a panelist for Chapter XIX of the North American Free Trade Agreement and has participated in the “Side Room”, the private sector delegation for international negotiations of the Mexican government. He currently serves as president of the Mexican National Committee of the Union Internationale des Avocats (UIA) and is an expert member of the Mexican Delegation to the Organización Internacional de la Viña y el Vino (OIV) in the DROCON groups, Consumer Rights, and Information CIII Economy, and SECUAL Law, Food Safety.
Dr. Cruz Barney was president of the Ilustre y Nacional Colegio de Abogados de México between 2008-2010 and 2010-2012 and is currently a member of the Ilustre Colegio de Abogados de Madrid. Dr. Cruz Barney was also appointed Vicepresident of the Academia Mexicana de Jurisprudencia y Legislación for the period 2023-2025.
With a solid and internationally recognized academic and professional experience, in addition to his interventions as speaker in several masters and graduate courses in the Universidad Iberoamericana, the Universidad Panamericana, the Escuela Libre de Derecho, the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM, and the International Chamber of Commerce Mexico, he is a frequent guest as lecturer and professor in Spain, France, Italy, Belgium, Germany, Finland, Portugal, the United States, Argentina, Chile,
Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Panama, the Dominican Republic, and Puerto Rico, among other countries. In 2022, Dr. Cruz Barney was appointed Professeur Distingué “Honorary Professor” of the Faculty of Legal, Political, and Social Sciences of the Université de Lille, France.
Author of a significant number of works on international trade law, arbitration, and the history of law, Dr. Cruz Barney is an advisor and member of numerous editorial and scientific committees of specialized publications. He is also a frequent participant and coordinator of seminars and academic workshops, as well as national and international congresses.
JOSÉ LUIS CABALLERO
ICJ Commissioner, Professor at the Iberoamericana University
José Luis Caballero holds a Law Degree from Tecnológico de Monterrey, Campus Chihuahua; a Master’s Degree in Law from UNAM Law School; a Doctorate in Law from UNED of Spain; and a Diploma in Human Rights and Democratization Processes from Universidad de Chile. He is a member of the National System of Researchers.
He is an academic-researcher in the Department of Law at the Ibero-American University of Mexico City, and is currently a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists. His published work consists of more than ninety book chapters and articles in specialized journals on constitutional law, human rights and international human rights law, as well as some books on these subjects.
PEDRO SALAZAR
Researcher, Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas, UNAM
Mr. Salazar obtained his Bachelor of Laws degree from the Instituto Tecnológico Autónomo de México (1994), with special mention, and holds a Ph.D. in Political Philosophy. He has a lengthy and prolific career as a researcher, academic, consultant, and arbitrator, as well as an extensive background in the publishing and media sectors.
Dr. Salazar Ugarte served as director of the Instituto de Investigaciones Jurídicas de la UNAM (IIJ-UNAM) during the periods 2014-2018 and 2018-2022. He also acted as Academic Secretary of the same Institute between 2009 and 2011 and headed the Internal Council Secretariat, the Editorial Committee Secretariat, and the Editorial Subcommittee of the Institution. In 2010, he was president of the Academic Commission for the Evaluation of Institutional Research Line Projects at the IIJ-UNAM. Since 2012, Dr. Salazar has been a member of the National System of Researchers.
In 2016, Doctor Salazar founded, together with leaders from different sectors, Impunidad Cero, an organization aimed at studying, analyzing, raising awareness, and countering impunity in Mexico. In that same year, he joined the Assembly of Partners of Fundar, Centro de Análisis e Investigación, aimed at promoting better relations between society and government, and the Council of Advisers of Mexicanos Contra la Corrupción y la Impunidad. Also in 2016, he was appointed arbitrator of the Permanent Court of Arbitration based in The Hague.
As a professor, Doctor Salazar has focused on Constitutional Law, Political Theory, Public Law, Human Rights, Ethics, Democracy, and the Rule of Law, among others. Throughout his career, he has lectured in bachelor’s, graduate, master’s, doctorate, and specialization degrees, both in Mexico and abroad, in countries such as the United States, Spain, Italy, and Germany. He has also been invited as a lecturer and speaker at numerous national and international seminars and congresses.
Author, co-author, editor, translator, and coordinator of several academic works, Dr. Salazar also collaborates with several specialized magazines, newspapers, and print media in Mexico and other countries. His most recent books include Power over Law. The Case of the Popular Consultation to Judge Former Presidents, as well as Democracy and (Culture of) Legality, in its second edition.
He is also a commentator and host on radio and television, on channels such as Canal 11, Canal Judicial, Canal del Congreso, Canal 40, and UNAM TV. For his work in the series Electoral Observatory, he won
the Honorable Mention of the 2018 Edition in the category Radio and Television, Premio Alemán de Periodismo Walter Reuter.
Currently, he is a Secretary of the Academia Mexicana de Ciencias.
LAURENCE PANTIN
Program Coordinator for Transparency in Justice and Special Projects, México Evalúa
Laurence Pantin holds a PhD in Political Science from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO – Mexico), a Master’s Degree in Journalism from New York University (NYU), and a Bachelor’s Degree in Communication from the Institute of Political Studies of Paris (Sciences Po Paris). Her research interests are judicial independence, judicial governance, judicial career, transparency and combating corruption in the judiciary, state judiciaries and digital justice.
BARBARA SPINELLI
Co-president, European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH)
Barbara Spinelli is Co-President of ELDH and a human rights lawyer, banned from Turkey for her activities as international observer. Co-president of the European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights. Member of the Bologna Bar Council’ Human Rights Committee and of the Commission for Relations in Mediterranean Area of the Italian Bar Council (CNF). Femicide expert for UN. Awards: SEN Prize for standing out in defense of women’s right, CNF medal of merit for her activities as international observer.
ROBERTO LÓPEZ MIGUEL
Lawyer, Colectivo Los Otros Abogadoz
Roberto López Miguel is a graduate of the Law School of the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México (UNAM); he completed postgraduate studies at the Facultad de Estudios Superiores Aragón of the UNAM, where he completed a Specialization in Criminal Law and a Master’s Degree in Criminal Policy.
Since 2006, he has been a member of the Zapatista Lawyers Collective, joining the legal defense of political prisoners who have been detained in contexts of social repression by the Mexican State, as was the case of the political prisoners of Texcoco and San Salvador Atenco, in the State of Mexico; of UNAM student Luis Fernando Sotelo Zambrano, accused of burning the Ciudad Universitaria Metrobus station in 2014, in the context of the Third Global Day of Action for the appearance alive of the Ayotzinapa students; as well as the students of the UNAM, ENAH (National School of Anthropology and History), IPN (National Polytechnic Institute) and UAM (Autonomous Metropolitan University) arrested on November 20, 2014, who were protesting in the vicinity of the International Airport of Mexico City, in the same context of the disappearance of the 43 normalistas.
Since 2015, he has been part of the Colectivo Los Otros Abogadoz, which currently carries the legal defense of the politically persecuted Miguel Ángel Peralta Betanzos, an Indigenous Mazateco from the Community of Eloxochitlán de Flores Magón, Oaxaca, sentenced to 50 years in prison for defending the autonomy and self-determination of his people, and for opposing the political-economic interests of a cacique family linked to the MORENA party, and the government of the State of Oaxaca.
They also carry the legal representation of the Yaqui Indigenous Fidencio Aldama Pérez, imprisoned since 2016 in the prison of Ciudad Obregón Sonora, sentenced to 14 years in prison, for defending his territory and for opposing the construction of the Sonora Gas Pipeline, owned by the transnational company Sempra Energy.
VICTORICO GÁLVEZ PÉREZ
Lawyer, HRC Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas
Community Human Rights Defender. Law degree from the Autonomous University of Chiapas. For the past 5 years, he has been a lawyer at the Fray Bartolomé de Las Casas A.C. Human Rights Center in the State of Chiapas, where he documents, accompanies and litigates national and international cases of serious human rights violations of persons arbitrarily deprived of their liberty, torture and ill-treatment, disappearances, arbitrary deprivation of life, forced displacement, as well as repression against human rights defenders, journalists and press, and land and territorial violations, particularly of indigenous peoples. Finally, she is a member of the Network of Democratic Defenders of Mexico (REDD).
VALENTINA ROSENDO CANTÚ
Human Rights Defender, Indigenous Me’phaa community, State of Guerrero
Valentina Rosendo Cantú is an indigenous woman belonging to the “Me’phaa” indigenous community in the state of Guerrero. Valentina Rosendo was a victim of sexual violence and torture by the military in 2002 when she was only 17 years old and did not speak Spanish. Since then, she has fought in Mexican and International Courts to obtain justice and reparations, with the support of civil society organizations. Her case is considered a reference against sexual torture and militarization.
In 2010, the Inter-American Court of Human Rights issued a judgment against the Mexican State as responsible for serious violations of Valentina’s human rights, committed in a context marked by poverty, discrimination and “military institutional violence.” In 2018, her case was the first of its kind to be tried in the ordinary civilian jurisdiction following a judgment of the IACHR Court, setting a precedent for justice to be obtained in other similar cases. It is still at the stage of Supervision of Compliance with the Judgment at the IACHR Court.
MARTHA FIGUEROA MIER
Lawyer, Women’s rights defender, Chiapas
Martha Figueroa Mier is born in Mexico City and Chiapanenca by choice. She is a lawyer graduated from the Faculty of Law of the UNAM, with specialization and experience in human rights, women’s rights, gender violence, sexual and reproductive rights, protocols for judging and investigating with a gender lens, to obtain protection orders and application of NOM 046. An activist with extensive training and experience in promotion, defence, training and dissemination of human rights.
Founder of the following organizations: Mujeres Libres COLEM, AC. Grupo de Mujeres de San Cristóbal Las Casas, AC (1989). Recognized and awarded in Chiapas by networks and organizations and public institutions, but personally the greatest award is the one expressed by the families of the women for whom she works and the recognition by young and contemporary feminists as a “Maestra”.
ANA LORENA DELGADILLO PÉREZ
Executive Director, Fundación para la Justicia y el Estado Democrático de Derecho
Member of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances since May 1, 2023 and executive director and founding partner of the Fundación para la Justicia since 2011. Through the Fundación para la Justicia she has promoted, together with other non-governmental organizations, projects related to access to justice and truth for migrants, such as the Forensic Commission for the Identification of the remains of the 3 massacres of migrants that occurred in the north of Mexico, the External Support Mechanism for the Search and Access to Justice for Migrants and the Roundtable for the Search of Migrants in Mexico.
With other civil society organizations, she has also promoted several actions to influence structural changes in the search and identification of remains, transformation of prosecutors’ offices (within the movement Fiscalía que Sirva), strengthening of the Judiciary and citizen security policies. Before working
for the Fundación para la Justicia, she was involved in various governmental and non-governmental spaces on issues of access to justice, human rights, women’s rights, among others.
TITA RADILLA
Vice-president, Association of Relatives of the Detained-Disappeared in Mexico (AFADEM)
Daughter of Rosendo Radilla Pacheco and Victoria Martínez Neri. In 1992, the Mexican Association of Relatives of the Detained, Disappeared and Victims of Human Rights Violations (Mexico) (AFADEM) was formed, of which she was named President and, from that time to the present, she has dedicated herself to working as a full-time volunteer at AFADEM.
In 2001 she accompanied family members to file complaints with the Special Prosecutor’s Office for Social and Political Movements of the Past, in more than 300 cases. In 2001, she took her father’s case to the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and in 2009 she obtained a sentence from the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in which the Mexican State was condemned for the forced disappearance of Rosendo Radilla Pacheco.
She has been awarded several prizes for her tireless work in the search for justice for the grave human rights violations committed in the country. She is currently participating in the work of the Historical Clarification Mechanism of the recently created Truth Commission.
SANTIAGO AGUIRRE
Director, Centro de Derechos Humanos Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez (Centro ProDH)
Santiago Aguirre Espinosa holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Law and a Bachelor’s Degree in Humanistic Studies from the University of Monterrey. He holds a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democracy from the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) and a Diploma in Strategic Political Analysis from the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics (CIDE).
He has worked for the past 15 years in civil human rights organizations, such as: Ciudadanos en Apoyo a los Derechos Humanos (CADHAC), in Nuevo León; the Human Rights Center of La Montaña “Tlachinollan”, in Guerrero; and the Miguel Agustín Pro Juárez Human Rights Center (Centro Prodh), based in Mexico City. Since 2019, he has been the Director of Centro Prodh.
Centro Prodh is a civil organization founded by Jesuits in 1988 to defend and promote human rights in Mexico. For its work, it has received several awards in Mexico and abroad. Its team works on some of the most emblematic human rights causes in the country: Atenco, Guarderia ABC, Tlatlaya, Ayotzinapa, among others.
ELEONORA SCALA
Programme Coordinator, International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI)
Eleonora Scala is an Italian human rights lawyer. She holds an Integrated Masters in Law (MA) from Bocconi University with specialization in European and criminal law, and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex. She is Programme Coordinator at the International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) where she focuses on projects related to the rule of law, the independence of judges and lawyers, and gender equality.
She has previously worked as an associate lawyer for the Milan office of the law firm Gianni & Origoni and has had professional experiences in the UN system both in New York, following the work of the 6th Committee of the General Assembly on behalf of the Permanent Mission of Italy, and in Vienna, dealing with migrant smuggling and human trafficking at the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). She has also cooperated with the UK Charity Picture People by supporting projects related to empowering vulnerable communities through the use of visual media and technology.
DIEGO GARCÍA SAYÁN
Former UN Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers, Former President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Mr. Diego García-Sayán was appointed as Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers in December 2016. Mr. García-Sayán was a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for two consecutive terms. During his tenure, he was elected Vice-President of the Court (2008-2009) and President of the Court for two consecutive terms (2009-2013).
Mr. García-Sayán has broad experience working for multilateral organizations such as the United Nations and the Organization of American States. Previous responsibilities include: representative of the UN Secretary-General for the Peace Agreements at El Salvador and for the subsequent verification of the agreements, reporting directly to the Security Council; member and Chairperson of the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances; member of the Redesign Panel on the United Nations System of Administration of Justice, appointed by the UN Secretary-General in 2006; Head of the Electoral Mission of the Organization of American States (OAS) in Guatemala during the general elections (2007).
Mr. García-Sayán was Minister of Justice during the democratic transition in Peru and Minister of Foreign Affairs. He was also President of the High Level Commission to design and implement the Museum of Memory, Tolerance and Social Inclusion in Peru, inaugurated in December 2015.
Mr. García-Sayán is the author of several books on international law and development.
MIRTA KUPFERMINC
Independent multidisciplinary artist
Mirta Kupferminc is an international award-winning artist, teacher and curator; born in Buenos Aires to immigrant parents who had survived Auschwitz. Identity, human rights and memory, are the themes that run through her work. Since 1977, she has had over 100 solo international exhibitions. Her works are in (selection): Special collections Golda Meir Library in Milwaukee; Library of Congress, Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington DC; The Israel Museum, Jerusalem; The Fine Arts Taipei Museum, Taiwan; and main museums in her country. In 2015 launched LABA-BA: Laboratory of Art and Jewish Culture in Buenos Aires as part of LABA global. To know more: www.mirtakupferminc.net
ŞERİFE CEREN UYSAL
Co-secretary General of European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH), Executive Member of the Progressive Lawyers’ Association (ÇHD)
Şerife Ceren Uysal is a human rights lawyer from Istanbul. She is based in Vienna since 2016 August. An executive board member of the Progressive Lawyers Association since 2015, Ceren Uysal was awarded the Dr.Georg Lebiszczak Prize for Freedom of Speech in Austria in 2016 December.
She is researching at the Gender Studies Master Program of the University of Vienna, focusing on gender issues within the context of human rights law, and is currently the co-secretary general of The European Lawyers for Democracy and World Human Rights (ELDH). Ceren is working as PEN Norway’s Legal Adviser on Turkey.
AYŞE BINGÖL DEMIR
European Association of Lawyers for Democracy & World Human Rights (ELDH), Director of the Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project
Ayse Bingol Demir is a human rights lawyer, founding director of Middlesex University-based Turkey Human Rights Litigation Support Project (TLSP), and member of the European Lawyers for Democracy and Human Rights (ELDH). Her focus areas include strategic human rights litigation before local courts in Turkey as well as international and regional oversight mechanisms, the judgment implementation process of the European Court of Human Rights, and research and advocacy on the systemic human rights and
rule of law issues in Turkey and globally, including political persecutions, counter-terrorism laws, and judicial independence.
She acts as external human rights institutions and compliance expert at the United Nations Development Programme, Rule of Law Division. Her past positions include as visiting research fellow at Middlesex University School of Law and member of the Media Defence legal team. Ayse is a graduate of Istanbul University Law School and Queen Mary University of London. She is the recipient of the 2016 CCBE Human Rights Award alongside three lawyers from Turkey.
EBRU TIMTIK AWARD JURY
ALEJANDRA MANAVELLA
Advocacy Coordinator CEJIL Mesoamerica
Alejandra Manavella is a Costa Rican lawyer, specialist in critical criminology and sociology of law from the University of Barcelona, with more than 15 years of experience working in the defense and protection of human rights.
Since 2018, she has been the advocacy coordinator for the Mesoamerica program of the Center for Justice and International Law CEJIL.
CEJIL is an organization of human rights defenders working to reduce inequality, discrimination, and violence. Every day, our litigation, advocacy, and communication strategies contribute to strengthening democracies, protecting and promoting rights, and fighting impunity in the Latin American region. CEJIL’s mission is to contribute to the full enjoyment of human rights in the Americas through the effective use of Inter-American System tools and other international human rights law protection mechanisms. (https://cejil.org/)
ARTURO FOURNIER FACIO
Dr. Arturo Fournier Facio studied law at the University of Costa Rica. He completed his doctorate in law at the Universidad Centroamericana (U.C.A.) Nicaragua. He also completed a doctorate in agricultural law in Florence.
From 2016 to 2018, Mr. Fournier Facio was ambassador plenipotentiary of Costa Rica to the Russian Federation, and in 2022 he was elected Costa Rica’s representative to the board of directors of the American Association of Jurists. In 2023, he was appointed member of the Scientific Committee of the Monique & Roland Weyl People’s Academy of International Law.
He has given numerous lectures and conferences on different branches of law in Costa Rica, United States, Cuba, Chile, England, Italy, France, Panama, Nicaragua, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, Federal Republic of Germany, Ecuador, Vietnam and Russia. He has participated in 97 international congresses and seminars, in 4 continents, since his graduation in 1974.
EVGENIA KOUNIAKI
Evgenia Kouniaki is a lawyer in Greece. She graduated from the Faculty of Law of the National Kapodistrian University of Athens. She also holds a degree in Social Anthropology and a Master’s degree from the Postgraduate Programme in Social and Cultural Anthropology. As a lawyer she has represented victims of police, racist and extreme right-wing violence. She is a member of the team of civil litigation lawyers representing Egyptian fishermen in their own case against the far-right organisation Golden Dawn in Greece. She has worked in non-governmental organisations involved in defending the rights of migrants and refugees and in documenting human rights violations at the Evros border. She is involved in several networks and collectives mainly focused on the defence of human rights
IRIS ROCÍO SANTILLÁN RAMÍREZ
Lawyer and Feminist Criminologist
Graduate in Law from the UAM, Master in Criminology from the University of Barcelona and PhD in Criminal Law and Criminal Policy from the National Institute of Criminal Sciences. For more than 18 years, she has worked in the field of law enforcement. For the last 22 years, she has been dedicated to teaching and research in the field of violence against women. She has lectured in various forums in Mexico and abroad and has published articles in publishing houses in Spain, Brazil, Argentina and Mexico.
She is the author of the books: “Violación y culpa”, “Matar para vivir”, “Análisis jurídico penal y criminológico con perspectiva de género de casos de mujeres homicidas” and is co-coordinator of the book “Feminicidios y Violencia feminicida” published by Tirant lo blanch. In 2015, she received the Omecíhuatl Medal for her contributions to human rights. She was part of the working group for the activation of the first gender violence alert in Mexico City. She is currently a full professor-researcher “C” in the Department of Law at the UAM-Azcapotzalco, is a National Researcher and is responsible for the Divisional Seminar on Gender Studies and Violence against Women.
MÓ LUZ (LUCHA) ESTELA CASTRO RODRIGUEZ
Feminist theologian, lawyer and human rights defender
Luz (Lucha) Estela Castro Rodríguez, a feminist theologian and lawyer, is a Mexican human rights defender who for more than thirty-five years has legally represented victims of human rights violations: femicide, trafficking, torture, forced disappearance, family and sexual violence, as well as displaced persons and defenders at risk.
Her work focuses on strategic litigation; psychosocial accompaniment and empowerment of victims, to strengthen their capacities in the exercise of their rights before the courts, a pioneer in the exercise of Coadjuvance, in judicial activism and socialisation of law in Mexico.