Cecilia Medina Quiroga (2015–2019)
Former President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights
Biography
Prof. Cecilia Medina Quiroga is one of the most prominent Latin American influences in the Human Rights field. Ms. Medina Quiroga was elected in 2004 to become the vice-president of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and then in 2009 she was elected to be the first woman to hold the presidential office of the court.
She was also the Director of the Human Rights center, Professor of International Law, and Member of the Academic Board of Doctor’s Program at University of Chile. While chairing in 2000 at the UNHCR, she passed comment 28 on Article 3 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights which calls for the equal empowerment of women.
After earning her Doctor in Law from University of Utrecht she published extensively in the Human Rights field. The following years she was awarded with numerous distinctions, including the Women’s Prize given by the Gruber Foundation and the Chilean Women’s Leadership Award.