Viviana Krsticevic is a distinguished human rights advocate with extensive academic and professional credentials, including an LL.B. from the University of Buenos Aires, an M.A. in Latin American Studies from Stanford University, and an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. As the Executive Director of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), she leads initiatives across the Americas to promote human rights using international law and the Inter-American System for the Protection of Human Rights. Since December 2022, she has served as an expert on the Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran for the Human Rights Council, presenting a significant report in March 2024. 

Ms. Krsticevic’s career spans impactful litigation in Latin America, advocating before the Inter-American Commission and Court of Human Rights in numerous pivotal cases. She has shaped international human rights standards, notably in accountability, equality, reparations, and social and economic rights, and has pioneered initiatives in women’s rights, economic rights, freedom of expression, and the protection of human rights defenders. 

Since 2020, she has contributed to developing an Advisory Opinion of the IACtHR on the climate emergency and human rights. In January 2023, the request for an Advisory Opinion was pursued by the Governments of Chile and Colombia which submitted the inquiry to the Tribunal. This initiative has generated a wealth of knowledge and has expanded the community of practice in the field, even pending what we expect to be the adoption of a landmark Advisory Opinion by the Tribunal. The process runs parallel to similar debates at the International Court of Justice and the Law of the Sea Tribunal.   

She is a founder and member of the Gqual Campaign, a global initiative to promote gender parity in international representation, which was launched in 2015. Additionally, Ms. Krsticevic played a pivotal role in developing the international protocol for investigating threats against human rights defenders, which was launched in 2021 and is known as The Esperanza Protocol.

 Her academic contributions include teaching at American University Washington School of Law, conducting research at the Max Planck Institute, and publishing extensively on human rights and international law, significantly influencing discourse and practice in these fields.