The 2025 Panel of Experts

Alejandro Chehtman

Dean and Professor of Law at the Law School of the University Torcuato Di Tella. Alejandro is Executive Director of the Latin American Society of International Law (SLADI-LASIL) and a Fellow at the Argentine National Research Council (CONICET). He studied Law at the University of Buenos Aires, where he graduated with honors, and did his MSc in Political Theory and his PhD in Law at the LSE. His main research interests are Public International Law, International Criminal Law, International Humanitarian Law, and Constitutional Law, with special interest in philosophical and empirical issues.

Alejandro was previously Fellow at the Law Department at LSE, was Marie Sklodowska-Curie Fellow at the Faculty of Laws at University College London, Visiting Fellow at the Carr Center for Human Rights Policy, Harvard Kennedy School, and Visiting Professor at the University of Girona and in LUISS, in Rome. Before joining Di Tella he clerked at the Federal Appeals Chamber for Criminal Matters and at the Public Defense Office in the City of Buenos Aires. He is the author of numerous publications in journals of his speciality, including the European Journal of International Law, Leiden Journal of International Law, Journal of International Criminal Justice, Journal of Law & Courts among many others. He is the author of The Philosophical Foundations of Extraterritorial Punishment and a co-editor of the recently appeared Latin American International Law in the 21st Century, both published by Oxford University Press.

Robert Goldman

Is Professor of Law and Louis C. James Scholar at American University Washington College of Law. He is also Faculty Director of the War Crimes Research Office and Co-Director of WCL’s Center For Human Rights and Humanitarian Law. A member of WCL’s faculty since 1971, Professor Goldman was the law school’s Acting Dean from 1979-1980. He was instrumental in founding and was the first Faculty Director of WCL’s International Legal Studies Program. He practiced international trade law at Arnold & Porter from 1974-1976. 

Professor Goldman teaches, practices and writes in the areas of International Law, Human Rights Law, Terrorism, and International Humanitarian Law. In 1993, he chaired the Commission of International Jurists on the Administration of Justice in Peru, jointly tasked by the US and Peruvian governments to evaluate Peru’s anti-terrorist legislation. He helped from 1994-1996 develop the normative framework for internally displaced persons and was a principal author of The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. He was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from 1995 to 2004 and was that body’s president in 1999-2000. From July 2004 to August 2005, Professor Goldman was the former UN Human Rights Commission’s Independent Expert on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. In 2008, he was elected a Commissioner and member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and since 2014 was its Vice President. In July 2018, Professor Goldman was elected President of ICJ. Prior to his election to the Inter-American Commission, he was a member of the Policy Committee of Human Rights Watch and the Advisory Boards of Americas Watch, Helsinki Watch and Middle East Watch. Professor Goldman is currently a member of the Diplomatic Reception Room's Fine Arts Committee of the State Department.

He was instrumental in founding and was the first Faculty Director of WCL’s International Legal Studies Program. His area of expertise are International and human rights law; U.S. foreign policy; terrorist violations of international law; law of armed conflict. He practiced international trade law at Arnold & Porter from 1974-1976. Professor Goldman teaches, practices and writes in the areas of International Law, Human Rights Law, Terrorism, and International Humanitarian Law. In 1993, he chaired the Commission of International Jurists on the Administration of Justice in Peru, jointly tasked by the US and Peruvian governments to evaluate Peru’s anti-terrorist legislation. He helped from 1994-1996 develop the normative framework for internally displaced persons and was a principal author of The Guiding Principles on Internal Displacement. He was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from 1995 to 2004 and was that body’s president in 1999-2000. From July 2004 to August 2005, Professor Goldman was the former UN Human Rights Commission’s Independent Expert on the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms while countering terrorism. 

In 2008, he was elected a Commissioner and member of the Executive Committee of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) and since 2014 was its Vice President. In July 2018, Professor Goldman was elected President of ICJ and finished his third term in that position in 2024. Prior to his election to the Inter-American Commission, he was a member of the Policy Committee of Human Rights Watch and the Advisory Boards of Americas Watch, Helsinki Watch and Middle East Watch. Professor Goldman is currently a member of the Diplomatic Reception Room's Fine Arts Committee of the State Department.

Margarette May Macaulay

Former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) and a commissioner of the IACHR. 

She has been a Commissioner since January 2016 and 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. She also was the president of the IACHR Board of Directors. 

Macaulay was elected to serve as a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights for the term 2007 to 2012, contributing to the formulation of the Court’s Rules of Procedure. 

She serves as Mediator in the Supreme Court of Jamaica and as Associate Arbitrator, as well as serving as Notary Public.

She has also served as an Expert for UN Agencies and Ad Hoc Committees at various times over the years.

She holds a bachelor of laws degree from the University of London and is currently an attorney in private practice. 

She holds a bachelor of laws degree from the University of London and is currently an attorney in private practice. 

She is an honored member of the Gender Justice Legacy Wall of notable women’s rights advocates who have brought about important changes, which was launched in December 2017 at the United Nations in New York, during the Assembly of Ministers. She took part in the reform and drafting of laws in Jamaica and is well known as a strong proponent of and authority on women’s rights. She is a citizen of Jamaica.

Ariela Peralta Distéfano

She is a Uruguayan lawyer and notary with a Master’s degree in International Legal Studies from the Washington College of Law at American University through the Hubert H. Humphrey Fellowship Program.

She served as the lead expert for the ProDerechos program of the European Union and the Government of Honduras, aimed at strengthening a National Human Rights System.

She is a member of the Advisory Council of the International School of the Institute of Public Policy on Human Rights of the Southern Common Market (IPPDH-Mercosur).

She was appointed by the President of the Human Rights Council as a member of the Group of Human Rights Experts on Nicaragua.

She served as a legal consultant to the President of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. In 2024, she was part of the Independent Panel to Evaluate Candidates for the Bodies of the Inter-American Human Rights System (IAHRS).

She was the Executive Secretary of the Institute of Public Policy on Human Rights of the Southern Common Market (IPPDH-Mercosur).

She worked as a consultant for the Organization of American States (OAS).

She was a member of the first Governing Council of the National Human Rights Institution and Ombudsperson’s Office of Uruguay (INDDHH - Ombudsperson).

At the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL), she held the positions of Deputy Executive Director and Director of the Program for the Andean, North American, and Caribbean Region.

Juan E. Méndez

He is currently, and since 2009, a resident professor of human rights at the Washington College of Law at American University, where he also directs the Anti-Torture Initiative at its Center for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law.

Since 1997, he has taught in the Master’s Program in International Human Rights Law at the University of Oxford, United Kingdom, as well as in the summer course of the Human Rights Academy at American University.

Since January 2017, he has been a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists, based in Geneva, Switzerland. In 2020, he was appointed a member of the Board of Trustees of the United Nations Voluntary Fund for Victims of Torture for a three-year term, which was renewed in 2023 for a second term.

Between January 2021 and July 2024, he was one of the three members of the International Independent Expert Mechanism to Advance Racial Justice and Equality in Law Enforcement, established by the United Nations Human Rights Council. He was also a member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI), which investigated acts of violence and human rights violations that occurred in Bolivia between September and December 2019.

Between February and December 2017, he served as a member of the Selection Committee responsible for appointing magistrates to the Special Jurisdiction for Peace and the Truth Commission, as established in the Colombian peace agreements.

He was the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Torture from November 2010 to October 2016. From 2004 to 2007, he served as Special Advisor to the United Nations Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide.

He holds a law degree from Universidad Católica Stella Maris, now the National University of Mar del Plata, Argentina (1970), and a certificate from American University in Washington (1980).

He is a member of the Bar Associations of Mar del Plata and Washington, D.C. He was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights from 2000 to 2003, serving as its president in 2002.

In recognition of his work in human rights, he has received several honors, including honorary doctorates from the University of Quebec (2006) in Canada; the National University of La Plata (2013), the National University of Mar del Plata (2015), and the National University of Cuyo in Mendoza, Argentina.

He has authored numerous articles in specialized publications and is the co-author (with Marjory Wentworth) of Taking A Stand: The Evolution of Human Rights (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2011), published in Spanish as Un Puesto de Lucha: los Derechos Humanos en Evolución in March 2022 by the Fondo de Cultura Económica and Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico.

Gabriela Rodriguez

She has been a full-time professor in the Academic Department of Law at ITAM since 1994, teaching Public International Law I and II as well as Human Rights. She holds a Law degree from ITAM, a Master’s degree in Public International Law from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and a Doctorate in Law from UNAM.

She has served as the Director of the Law Bachelor's Program at ITAM and as the Director and founder of the Master's Program in Human Rights and Guarantees at ITAM, as well as the founder of the ITAM clinical projects. She is a member of the National System of Researchers. She has published books and articles on Mexican foreign policy, various perspectives on the incorporation of international law into Mexico’s domestic legal system, and Mexico’s relationship with the Inter-American Human Rights System, among other topics. She has coordinated ITAM students' participation in the Inter-American Court of Human Rights through amicus curiae submissions.

She has participated in lectures and conferences on general public international law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law, the relationship between the international system and Mexico’s domestic legal framework, as well as foreign policy. She has also conducted training sessions for Mexican public officials on the application of international standards in human rights and humanitarian law.