About the Author

Cecilia Medina, lawyer (University of Chile) and Doctor in Law (University of Utrecht). She is Former Professor of International Law at the Law Faculty of the University of Chile and Director of the Human Rights Center at the same Faculty.She taught for several years at the University of Utrecht, The Netherlands and was invited to teach in several universities abroad. In 1997 she was appointed to the Robert F. Kennedy Chair for distinguished Latin American academics at Harvard Law School. She has designed, organized and directed courses on International Human Rights Law for Chilean and Latin American judges and lawyers in The Netherlands, Argentina, Uruguay and Chile and for Latin American lawyers on Women and Human Rights in several Latin-American countries. She is Former member (1995-2002) and Chairperson (1999-2001) of the United Nations Human Rights Committee; former judge (2004-2009) and President (2008-2009) of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.She has written books and articles in international human rights law. She has received several awards for her work in human rights, such as inter alia, the Equality Now award for lifelong commitment to Human Rights, the Women's Prize of the Peter and Patricia Gruber Foundation, the Prominent women in International Law award by the Women's Interest Group of the American Society of International Law, the Rene Cassin Prize in Chile; medals for her academic work at the University of Chile. She is a Commandeur of the Order Oranje- Nassau from the Queen of The Netherlands.1