In addition to the public seminars, the Bergen Exchanges will also host two project workshops. The workshops will bring together researchers working on the projects for two days of discussions and presentations.

Legal and political determinants of sexual and reproductive health and rights
18-19 August
Centre contact: Siri Gloppen

Joint workshop of the research projects on “Political determinants of sexual & reproductive health in Africa” (RCN/GLOBVAC) and “Sexual and reproductive rights lawfare: global battles” (RCN/FRIHUMSAM)

Elevating water rights to human rights
25-26 August
Centre contact: Lara Cortes

Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health: Criminalisation, health impacts and game changers

Development actors have increasingly recognised the importance of the political determinants of health. One way in which politics and power dynamics impact health is through the use of criminal law. The project provides insights into the causes and effects of criminalisation of abortion and same sex relations, which is widespread in low and middle income countries, and has significant detrimental effects on mental health, maternal mortality; the health of women and LGBTs, and HIV transmission.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights Lawfare: Global battles

Sexual and reproductive rights are lightening-rods of controversy in most societies. Political polarization has been particularly pronounced with regard to abortion rights and rights of sexual minorities (LGBTIQ – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer – persons), but is also evident in issues such as the regulation of contraception, sterilization and adultery, divorce, sexual education and stem cell research. What is particularly pertinent is the growing judicialization of sexual and reproductive rights around the world. At the domestic and international level, courts have emerged as central arenas in these political-moral battles; and not only to further rights but also to limit them. The project aims to understand the nature, causes and, particularly, the consequences of such lawfare, which we define as diverse and intentional strategies adopted by civil society actors that seek to engage legal institutions in order to further or halt policy reform and social change.

Breaking BAD: Understanding the Backlash Against Democracy in Africa

Across the globe, democracy is challenged in ways that pose political and social threats – and that challenge the scholarly literature on democratic development. The project aims to provide a better understanding of the processes and consequences of democratic backlash. The empirical focus is on Africa, where the efforts at democracy building have been the most intense over the past three decades and where we currently see overt clamp down on democracy.

Abortion Rights Lawfare in Latin America

The project analyses the strategic use of rights and law in battles over abortion rights in Latin America – and the various effects of this lawfare between opposing groups. Taking rights to legal abortion as a point of inquiry in order to attend to the counter-progressive use of courts and other government institutions, this research project will analyse the nature, form, causes and particularly the consequences of lawfare in Latin America, focusing particularly on the creation of norms and judicial rulings, their implementation and effects.

Elevating water rights to human rights: Has it strengthened marginalized peoples’ claim for water?

Water is essential to all aspects of human life.  Yet, water scarcity remains a huge and increasing problem in many countries. In 2010, the United Nations General Assembly’s issued a landmark resolution declaring water as an independent human right under international law, thereby creating an internationally binding mechanism to pursue the right to water. The project “Elevating water rights to human rights: Has it strengthened marginalized peoples’ claim for water?” aims to provide evidence for the effects of elevating water to an independent human right. More precisely, it aims to determine whether states have become more accountable to their populations in providing access to clean water. Building on prior and ongoing research, this interdisciplinary project will conduct five carefully selected case studies from three regions (Brazil, Costa Rica, India, Peru and South Africa).

Political Determinants of Sexual and Reproductive Health

Development actors have increasingly recognised the importance of the political determinants of health. One way in which politics and power dynamics impact health is through the use of criminal law. The project provides insights into the causes and effects of criminalisation of abortion and same sex relations, which is widespread in low and middle income countries, and has significant detrimental effects on mental health, maternal mortality; the health of women and LGBTs, and HIV transmission.

Sexual and Reproductive Rights Lawfare: Global battles

Sexual and reproductive rights are lightening-rods of controversy in most societies. Political polarization has been particularly pronounced with regard to abortion rights and rights of sexual minorities (LGBTIQ – lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex and queer – persons), but is also evident in issues such as the regulation of contraception, sterilization and adultery, divorce, sexual education and stem cell research.

More information about Global Battles

Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health: Criminalisation, health impacts and game changers

Development actors have increasingly recognised the importance of the political determinants of health. One way in which politics and power dynamics impact health is through the use of criminal law. The project provides insights into the causes and effects of criminalisation of abortion and same sex relations, which is widespread in low and middle income countries

More information about Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health

Centre Director – Siri Gloppen
Centre Coordinator – Ingvild Aagedal Skage
Bergen Exchanges Volunteer Coordinator – Oda Ringstad
PR Coordinator – Anna Gopsill

Volunteers at the Bergen Exchanges 2019

PhD Course Coordinator and Leaders

PhD Course Coordinator
Lara Côrtes Postdoctoral researcher on the CMI-LawTransform project ‘Elevating Water Rights to Human Rights: Has it strengthened marginalised peoples’ claim for water?’

Course Leaders
Siri Gloppen Director at the Centre on Law and Social Transformation and Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen, she is also a senior researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute. Political scientist with a research focus on the intersection between law and politics.

Camila Gianella Researcher at Chr. Michelsen Institute and the Centre on Law and Social Transformation. She is part of several projects at the centre: ‘Abortion Rights lawfare in Latin America’, ‘Operationalizing a Rights-Based Approach to Health Service Delivery’, ‘Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health: Criminalisation health impacts and game changers’ and ‘Litigating the Right to Health’.

Keynote speakers

Malcolm Langford is Co-Director at the Centre of Law and Social Transformation and a Professor of Public Law, University of Oslo. A lawyer and social scientist, his publications span human rights, international development, international investment, comparative constitutionalism and the politics of the legal profession. Malcolm’s awards include the University Medal in Economics from the University of NSW and the Young Scholar Prize from the European Society of International Law for his paper on Managing Backlash. He is the Co-Editor of the Cambridge University Book Series on Globalization and Human Rights, co-coordinates two of the Centre’s Research Council of Norway projects on sexual and reproductive rights andleads a major research programme on the politics of branding the Nordic Model. Malcolm also coordinates the Forum for Law and Social Science, co-directs the Global School on Socio-Economic Rights and Judgment Watch, and acts as an advisor to various UN bodies, governments and NGOs. 

Kristin Bergtora Sandvik (S.J.D Harvard Law School 2008) is a professor of legal sociology at the Faculty of Law, University of Oslo and a Research Professor in Humanitarian Studies at PRIO. Her work focuses on refugee resettlement, legal mobilization, humanitarian technology, innovation and accountability. She teaches legal anthropology, sociology of law, robot regulations, legal technology and empirical methods in law.

Participants

Giedre Casaite is an intern at the Centre on Law and Social Transformation. Her main focus is on international human rights protection. She has a Master’s degree in international and European Union law and six years legal work experience. Her thesis investigates principles of interpretation and application of the European Convention on Human Rights. Previously she worked as a jurist and an assistant to the Member of the Parliament, Chair of the Committee on Social Affairs and Labour (Lithuania). She also had traineeships at the European Parliament, European law department under the Ministry of Justice and Ministry of foreign affairs of the Republic of Lithuania.

Adèle Cassola is a Research Associate with the Global Strategy Lab at York University in Toronto, where she leads research on public health institutions and policies. She completed her Ph.D. in Urban Planning at Columbia University. Her doctoral research investigated how the ‘Just City’ principles inform planning policies and processes at the city and neighbourhood levels, with a focus on equitable development. Adèle previously led globally comparative research on equity in legal rights protections with the Institute for Health and Social Policy and the World Policy Analysis Centre. She earned her B.A. from the University of Toronto and her M.Sc. from the London School of Economics.

Anwesha Dutta has a PhD in Conflict and Development Studies from Ghent University, Belgium. Her PhD research focused on political ecology of resource extraction, conservation and livelihoods in the reserved forests on the India-Bhutan borderlands in Assam, Northeast India. During her doctoral research she explored the intersection between ethnic conflict and environmental politics by focusing on issues of (il)legal timber trade, access to forest land and resources and local indigenous politics. She is currently a postdoctoral researcher (tenure track) at CMI and is working on the USAID project called Targeting Natural Resource Corruption (TNRC). She is interested in issues of transboundary water (river) governance, natural resource extraction and forest conservation, specifically in the South Asian context.  

Eva Maria Fjellheim is a PhD student at the Center for Saami Studies (SESAM) at the University of Tromsø. Her academic background is within human geography and development studies, with inter-disciplinary research interest focused on indigenous studies. Her PhD project is about participation and self-determination in processes of renewable energy developments on indigenous lands, illustrated through a cross-contextual empirical study in Guatemala (hydropower) and Norway (windpower). She has previously worked with indigenous rights issues (particularly education and territorial rights) in both Latin America and the Saami area through international cooperation, solidarity work, politics and journalism.

Conrado Hübner Mendes is Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of São Paulo (USP). PhD in Law at the University of Edinburgh and PhD in political science at USP. Author of “Constitutional Courts and Deliberative Democracy” (OUP, 2014).

Linda W. Kroeger is the Programme Officer for the Sexual and Reproductive Health Rights thematic area at the award winning Kenyan Non – Governmental Organization, KELIN (Kenya Legal and Ethical Issues Network on HIV and AIDS). She holds an LLB (honors) degree from Kenyatta University School of Law in 2015 and is currently pursuing her Masters of Law in Public International Law at the University of Nairobi – School of Law. Linda has a keen interest in research topics that feature prominent aspects of intersectional feminist theories. Her dissertation will seek to establish if “The right to reproductive healthcare in Kenya is discriminatory?” and she is part of a convening of African feminists exploring the parameters and possible tenets of an African Feminist Theory in a book set to be published in 2020. Her book chapter therein seeks to explore if the Feminist Movement(s) in Africa are credible movements. In addition, Linda is a young and passionate social change activist with a selfless ambition to help the disadvantaged and oppressed in society-most especially women and children. She has worked with various non-governmental organizations such as; Hivos East Africa under their Women @ Work Campaign by developing a media advocacy plan and taking part in the Age of Wonderland Dialogue series aimed at mapping out solutions in curbing Sexual harassment at the community level and Akili Dada by co-facilitating their Inspirational Wednesdays Activity for young girls and women. Linda is also a board member of the Loreto Sisters Anti-Female Genital Mutilation Campaign (Abundant Life Center) and the Young Women Leadership Institute in Kenya.

Angela Lindt is a PhD candidate in social anthropology at the University of Bern, Switzerland. Her research focuses on social conflicts in Peru’s mining regions and on the prospects of using legal and regulatory means to hold transnational corporations responsible for human rights violations. Further research interests of hers include the criminalization of social protest and the privatization of public force in the context of mining conflicts. She is currently working on a project entitled “Law in Protest: Transnational Struggles for Corporate Liability,” funded by the Swiss National Science Foundation and supervised by Professor Dr. Julia Eckert.

Marta Rodriguez de Assis Machado is Master (2004) and PhD (2007) in Philosophy and Theory of Law at University of Sao Paulo and since 2007 full time professor at Getulio Vargas Foundation Law School in Sao Paulo. Her research is located in the inter-disciplinary field of law, political science and legal-sociology and focuses on the relations between social movements and law; and on the ambiguous role criminal law plays between recognition and repression. She has developed research on the performance of Brazilian courts in the enforcement of the anti-racism legislation; the functioning of the criminal justice system in violations of human rights through the case study on the Carandiru Massacre; the Brazilian feminist movement and the campaign for passing legislation on gender violence; and on the battles over abortion regulations in Brazil in different state arenas.

Saul Mullard has extended fieldwork experience from India, Nepal, China and Mongolia, where his primary research interest has been social relations and power dynamics. His current research interests include the role people’s movements and civil society organizations play in holding power to account, particularly in countries and regions characterized by weak social and governance structures, and the role of youth in strengthening CSOs. 

Melody Musoni is a published author and a thought leader in the area of cybercrimes and cybersecurity. She is currently undertaking her PhD studies at Witwatersrand University, South Africa. Her research project is on gathering of electronic evidence in the cloud. She is also a lecturer to non lawyers on Cybersecurity and Data Protection at the University of Witwatersrand and a Legal Consultant at Phukubje Pierce Masithela Attorneys.

Carolina M. Neyra Sevilla is a Bachelor of Laws from the Universidad del Pacífico. Currently she develops as a Research Assistant of the Academic Department of Law at the Centro de Investigación de la Universidad del Pacífico (CIUP). Her research has been focused on LGT*BIQ rights and the right to water. She has also been an intern at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and assisted to the Public International Law Summer Course at The Hague Academy of International Law.

Dr. Franklin Oduro is Director of Programs and Deputy Executive Director at Accra-based Center for Democratic Development. He has over 15 years of experience in program development, research and advocacy in the area of democratization and governance, more than a decade of that time spent with CDD-Ghana. Franklin has also worked with and consulted for the International Center for Transitional Justice (NY), the National Democratic Institute (D.C), and the Kofi Annan International Peace Keeping Training Center (Accra, Ghana). Franklin has extensive expertise in conflict resolution and peace building and election management, and has worked on assuring election credibility both in Ghana and across West Africa. Franklin holds a Ph.D in Political Science from Carleton University, Ottawa, Canada, where he specialized in Policy Analysis/Public Affairs Management and Comparative Politics.

Tais Sofia Cunha De Barros Penteado holds a law degree from the FGV Law School from São Paulo, where she is currently a M.A candidate, with Mario Henrique Simonsen Teaching and Research Scholarship and Funding from São Paulo Research Foundation. Since 2015, she has worked on the abortion issue, from the perspectives of Constitutional Law and Feminist Legal Theory, with special interest in how the rights discourse can be mobilized by social movements. She is currently working on the papers “The abortion issue: an equality-based approach” and “Abortion Rights in Brazil’s Judicial Arena: How is the Issue Being Constructed by Social Movements Pro Decriminalization?”. She has been a permanent researcher at the FGV Justice and Constitution Center since 2017.

Melanie L. Phillips is currently a PhD Candidate at the Charles and Louise Travers Political Science department at the University of California, Berkeley. Her research agenda focuses on the progress of equity in politics. Specifically, her dissertation looks at the barriers to candidacy in sub-Saharan Africa. She has conducted multiple rounds of fieldwork in Zambia. She holds a Masters in Political Science from UC Berkeley and a Bachelor of Arts in  International Studies; Political Science with distinction from the University of California, San Diego.

Danielle Hanna Rached is Professor of International Law at Getulio Vargas Foundation in Rio de Janeiro (FGV Direito Rio). PhD and LLM in international law at the University of Edinburgh.

Lise Rakner is a political scientist focusing on the issues of democratisation and human rights, economic reform, taxation, institutional change and international aid, with a particular emphasis on Southern and Eastern Africa. Rakner is currently the project leader for the Breaking BAD: Understanding the backlash against democracy in Africa project. Her current research interests concern electoral administration and party developments in Sub-Saharan Africa and more generally the relationship between political and economic processes of reform, accountability and the development of political institutions. Rakner has served as consultant for NORAD, SIDA, DFID, the World Bank, and the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Rakner is a Professor of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen.

Ruth Rubio Marín is Professor of Constitutional and Public Comparative Law at the EUI.Previously, she was Professor of Constitutional Law at the University of Seville and member of the Hauser Global Law School at the New York University. A graduate of the EUI’s Law Department, she has held teaching and research positions at, among others, Princeton University, Queen’s University and Columbia University. Her primary research areas are constitutional law, immigration and nationality law, law and gender, anti-discrimination law, transitional justice and minority rights. Her publications include The Gender of Reparations: Subverting Sexual Hierarchies while Redressing Human Rights Violations, and Migration and Human Rights. She is currently working on the book The Disestablishment of Gender in the New Millennium Constitutionalism.

Jessica Schultz is a lawyer specialising in international human rights and refugee law. She recently completed a PhD exploring the concept of safe spaces in refugee law. As an advisor at U4, Jessica is developing a thematic area on corruption and migration. She is also responsible for U4’s e-learning portfolio. Jessica has served as a researcher and protection advisor in East and West Africa, the DRC and Sri Lanka. She has also worked in the US, China and Taiwan.

Sofie Arjon Schutte is senior program advisor at U4 Anti-Corruption Resource Centre. She is social scientist with a focus on corruption and anti-corruption measures in the justice sector. She leads U4’s thematic work on the Justice Sector and Anti-Corruption Agencies and coordinates CMI’s corruption research group. She previously worked as an advisor for the Partnership for Governance Reform in Indonesia (United Nations Development Program) and as an integrated expert for the Indonesian Corruption Eradication Commission in Jakarta.

Rachel Sieder is a political scientist whose research interests are located within an inter-disciplinary field which straddles politics, legal anthropology, and legal sociology. Her research interests cover indigenous rights, human rights, judicial reform, access to justice, legal pluralism and counter-hegemonic forms of globalization. Her geographic area of specialization is Guatemala and Central America. She is currently senior research professor at the Centro de Investigaciones y Educación Superior en Antropología Social (CIESAS) in Mexico City, and research fellow at the Institute for the Study of the Americas at the University of London, where she held the post of senior lecturer in politics until 2008.

Elin Skaar is a Senior Researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI), where she heads the research cluster on Rights and Legal Institutions and is Coordinator for the Transitional justice Unit. Her research interests lie in the intersection between law and politics and focus on human rights, transitional justice, and judicial reform. Recent publications include Transitional Justice in Latin America: The Uneven Road from Impunity towards Accountability (Routledge 2016, co-edited) and After Violence: Transitional Justice, Peace, and Democracy (Routledge 2015, co-authored). Skaar holds a PhD in political science from the University of California, Los Angeles.

Ingvild Aagedal Skage holds a PhD and MA from Department of Comparative Politics at the University of Bergen. Her research interests include democratization, political parties, clientelism, social movements, urban poverty, and human rights (with an emphasis on LGBT-rights). Her empirical focus is on sub-Saharan Africa. Ingvild was also a visiting Fulbright Scholar at the New School for Social Research, New York, in Spring 2013.

Tina Søreide is Professor of Law and Economics (Dr. Econ) at the Norwegian School of Economics (NHH) at the Department of Accounting, Auditing and Law. She was previously employed by the Faculty of Law, University of Bergen (UiB), the Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI) and the World Bank, Washington DC. Her research is focused on corruption, governance, markets and development, currently with an emphasis on law enforcement. She has published extensively on corruption and governance, including several books – the latest being Corruption and Criminal Justice: Bridging Legal and Economic Perspectives (Edw. Elgar, 2016).

Getnet Tadele (PhD) is a professor at the Department of Sociology, Addis Ababa University and Honorary Professor at Jimma University, Ethiopia. He has been working on the interface of social science and health for over two decades with particular focus on sexuality, HIV/AIDS and sexual and reproductive health and rights, podoconiosis and other NTDs, enhancing gene*environment interactions and  children and youth issues. He has co-edited two books and published a book and over 50 journal articles and book chapters. In recognition of his excellence in research, AAU Meritorious Award Committee selected him as the winner of “Distinguished Research Award” for 2015/16 academic year. He has received a number of prestigious academic grants and fellowships including Fulbright scholarship and NIH grant from US, Ford Foundation scholarship,  Erasmus Mundus scholar scholarship in International Health, Erskine Fellowship from University of Canterbury, New Zealand and attended over 75 conferences and workshops in Africa, Europe, Asia, North and South America. Getnet received BA in Sociology and Social Administration from Addis Ababa University, Graduate Diploma and MSC in Health Social Science from the University of Newcastle, Australia and PhD from University of Amsterdam, Netherlands.

Liza Tuneva is a MA student in her senior year at Perm State University (Russia), studying political science and international relations. She is an exchange student at the University of Bergen. Liza has been involved in some research projects such as “Contentious Politics in Russian Regions” and “TRIPAR Shifting Paradigms – Towards Participatory and Effective Urban Planning in Germany, Russia and Ukraine”. Her Master thesis is devoted to the right to the city from the perspective of human rights. Upon graduation she hopes to continue her studying and conducting research.

Jeroen P. van der Sluijs is Professor in Theory of Science & Ethics of the Natural Sciences at the University of Bergen, Norway, and associate professor in new and emerging risks at Utrecht University, The Netherlands. His research focuses on scientific controversy on environmental and health risks in situations where scientific assessment is used as a basis for policymaking before conclusive scientific evidence is available on the causal relationships, the magnitude, and the probabilities of these risks. His work seeks to understand and improve the science-policy interface in a context of deep uncertainty by contributing and applying deliberative methods and tools for knowledge quality assessment. He has been working on uncertainty and precautionary risk governance in a wide range of fields including climate change, pollinator decline, endocrine disruptors and risk transformation in sustainable technologies. His work has inspired many scholars and science–policy interface institutions around the world (among them the Netherlands Environmental Assessment Agency, the European Environment Agency, and the US Environmental Protection Agency) to develop new ways of interfacing complex science and policymaking. His conceptual work on the phenomenon of uncertainty is widely cited and the various practical tools for knowledge quality assessment he developed are increasingly used in many disciplines and international research projects and on a wide range of sustainability issues. Jeroen is one of the lead authors of the 2019 SAPEA report Making Sense of Science and was ranked #45 (2018) and #25 (2015) in “The Sustainable 100”, the top 100 of most influential Netherlands persons contributing to sustainable development, by daily newspaper Trouw.

Catalina Vallejo is a Professor from Colombia. She holds an MA in Peace Studies and a Ph.D. in Law. Her doctoral research focusses on climate change litigation against governments worldwide and developments in climate change jurisprudence. She currently works as a Professor in Public Administration Law at the Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana (UNALULA). She obtained her degree in Law from Universidad Autónoma Latinoamericana, earned a degree in Administrative Law from Universidad de Antioquia (Medellín), and holds a MA in Peace studies from Universität Innsbruck. Has worked for the Colombian public sector in projects related to urban planning and human rights education. Has collaborated with the Chr. Michelsen Institute (Bergen, Norway) in various research projects with regional focus on Latin America, including studies on transitional justice, civilian-military relationships and climate change lawfare. She has been a lecturer of undergraduate courses on Administrative and Environmental Law at Los Andes University, Bogota.

Evelyn Villarreal F. is the Research Coordinator at the State of the Justice Report, which is an in deep analysis of the Costa Rican Judiciary. She was also responsible for the third and fourth Human Development Report State of the Region (launched in 2008 and 2012). Evelyn holds a M.Phil. in Latin American Studies, from the University of Oxford (UK); a MSc. in Latin American Cultural Studies; and a degree in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Costa Rica. Her research experience focused on Central American politics, and more recently, on judicial politics with emphasis on judicial independence, constitutional courts, criminal reforms and judicial management. She has been involved in several citizen projects as an activist. Currently, she is ad honorem member of two NGO`s boards: Costa Rica Íntegra, the Transparency International chapter in the country, and the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL).

Namita Wahi is a fellow at Centre for Policy Research, where she is the Indian coordinator for the Centre of Law and Social Transformation based on “Land Rights, Environment Protection and Inclusive, Development in India”. Namita holds an S.J.D. (doctoral) degree from Harvard Law School, where she wrote her dissertation on “The Right to Property and Economic Development in India”. Her doctoral dissertation traces the historical evolution of the right to property in the Indian Constitution from the colonial period until 1967. Her research interests are broadly in the areas of property rights, social and economic rights, and eminent domain or expropriation law.

Aled Williams is a political scientist focusing on aid, corruption, governance and natural resources, particularly political economy and political ecology approaches to the forestry sector and extractive industries. He focuses on the uneven politics of natural resource-driven development, with a particular interest in issues of corruption, access, legitimation and control in the forest and extractive sectors. He has a country focus on Indonesia and experience from assignments in Albania, Cambodia, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ethiopia, Macedonia, Mozambique, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, South Africa, Vietnam, and Zambia. 

Bruce Wilson is Senior Researcher at CMI and Professor at the University of Central Florida. He is a political scientist focusing on judicial politics and the political economy of Latin America. Wilson has a PhD from Washington University in St. Louis and is Professor of Political Science at the University of Central Florida. Orlando, Florida. He is currently part of the ” Sexual and Reproductive Rights Lawfare: Global battles over sexual and reproductive rights, driving forces and impacts (FRIPRO)” project funded by the Norwegian Research Council. His research on Latin American judicial politics and political economy has appeared in peer-reviewed journals including Comparative Political Studies, the Journal of Latin American Studies,Comparative Politics, Electoral Studies, the International Journal of Constitutional Law, and as numerous book chapters.

Inga Winkler is a lecturer at the Institute for the Study of Human Rights at Columbia University. Her books include the first comprehensive monograph on the human right to water, the forthcoming co-edited Handbook on Critical Menstruation Studies, and an edited volume on the Sustainable Development Goals. Inga is the Project Director of the Working Group on Menstrual Health & Gender Justice and leads the programming on socio-economic rights in the Institute for the Study of Human Rights. She served as Legal Advisor to the former UN Special Rapporteur on the Human Rights to Water and Sanitation and is affiliated with the water rights project at LawTransform.

Mulumebet Zenebe is assistant professor at Center for Gender Studies, Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia. Mulumebet is involved in the research  project “Political Determinants of Sexual and Reproductive Health: Criminalization, Health Impact and Game Changers”. The title of her specific project is “Ethiopian University Students Negotiating with Discourses of Abortion: The Case of Addis Ababa University“. Mulumebet has just completed her postdoctoral research project titled, “Negotiating with Competing Discourses of  Sexuality, Fertility Control and Abortion among University Students in Ethiopia”. Her project was part of a bigger project focusing on fertility control and abortion in Ethiopia, Tanzania and Zambia.

Mini bios of the speakers

Adriane Sanctis (LAUT, USP): Adjunct Professor of Comparative and International Law at the Institute of International Relations at the University of São Paulo (USP). Researcher at the Center for the Analysis of Freedom and Authoritarianism (LAUT), where she investigates the legal discourse of conservative movements.

Ana Alfinito Vieira (FGV São Paulo Law School): Coordinator of the Criminal Justice Observatory and Legal Adviser on the Amazon Watch. Ph.D. in Political Sociology, Max Planck Institute.

Bruce Wilson (University of Central Florida): Full Professor at the University of Central Florida and Associated Research Professor at the Chr. Michelsen Institute, Bergen, Norway. His primary research area focuses on comparative judicial politics in Latin America and his secondary interest engages with the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning.

Camila Gianella (CISEPA Pontifical Catholic University of Peru Executive Director): Professor at the Faculty of Psychology at the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru.

Catalina Smulovitz (Torcuato Di Tella University): Catalina Smulovitz is Plenary Professor of Political Science at Torcuato Di Tella University.  She writes on human rights and civil-military relations, the uses of and access to legal systems, and on citizenship and social accountability in Latin America. Currently, she is researching the impact of Federalism on the protection of rights and judicial wars in Latin America. Her recent publications are: “From the Discovery of Law to Lawfare or How the Grapes Became Sour” SAAP Journal,  2022; “Access to Justice and Public Defense in Federal Contexts: Who has access and why in the Argentine provinces?” SAAP Journal, 2019.

Catalina Vallejo (University of Bergen): Postdoctoral Fellow at the Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen. Her research focus is on climate change litigation. 

César Rodríguez-Garavito (New York University): Professor of Clinical Law and Faculty Director. César is the Chair of the Center for Human Rights and Global Justice at NYU School of Law.

Cláudio Couto (FGV EAESP): Adjunct professor at the Department of Public Management at FGV EAESP and coordinator of the Professional Master’s Degree in Public Policy and Management (MPGPP). Cláudio is a researcher at the Public Sector Policy and Economy Center (CEPESP) and CNPq Productivity Fellow (level 1C), a YouTuber and podcaster (#ForadaPolíticaNãoháSalvação).

Conrado Hübner Mendes (University of São Paulo): Professor-Doctor of Constitutional Law at the Faculty of Law at the University of São Paulo. Member of the Science, Research and Freedom Observatory of the Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science (SBPC) and a researcher at the Center for the Analysis of Freedom and Authoritarianism (LAUT). He is also a columnist for the newspaper “Folha de S.Paulo”.

Dandara Rudsan (Iniciativa Negra): Researcher at Iniciativa Negra por uma Nova Política Sobre Drogas. Post-graduate student in Labor Law and Human Rights (UFPA). Former National Rapporteur on Human Rights of the DHESCA Platform on the ‘Racism, Public Security and Violence’ agenda. Political Articulator of National Network of Anti-Prohibitionist Feminists (RENFA) on the National Agenda for Extrication and Networking of Amazonian Black Women. 

Danielle Rached (FGV Rio de Janeiro Law School): Professor at Fundação Getulio Vargas Law School in Rio de Janeiro, where she teaches human rights and transnational law. She has written about the legitimacy of international institutions. Currently, she researches the consequences of far-right populist governments for the climate change agenda.

Dennis Pacheco (Fórum Brasileiro de Segurança Pública).

Eloy Terena (APIB): Legal Advisor to the Articulation of the Indigenous People (APIB) and the Coordination of Indigenous Organizations of the Brazilian Amazon (COIAB). Ph.D. in Social Anthropology (National Museum, UFRJ) and Ph.D. in Law (Faculty of Law, UFF). Post-Ph.D from École des Hautes Études en Sciences Sociales (EHESS), Paris.

Felipe Freitas (UEFS/BA): Professor at the Brazilian Institute of Teaching, Development and Research (IDP), Researcher at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV) and Collaborating Professor at Federal University of Bahia (UFBA). Ph.D in law from the University of Brasília (UNB). Consultant and Program Advisor in the Freedom Project and Research Coordinator in the Observatory of Human Rights, Crisis and Covid-19. (tbc)

Florian Hoffmann (PUC-Rio): Professor at Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-Rio).

Francisca Pou Giménez (UNAM): Researcher at the Institute for Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Francisca’s work is in the area of constitutional law and comparative constitutional law, with a research focus on courts, rights protection, and dynamics of constitutional change in Latin America. She is coeditor of Proportionality and Transformation: Theory and Practice from Latin America (CUP, 2022), with Laura Clérico and Esteban Restrepo.

Gabriel Sampaio (Conectas): Coordinator of Strategic Litigation and the Program to Combat Institutional Violence at Conectas Human Rights. Master in Social Relations Law from PUC/SP. Member of the Board of Directors of the Center for the Analysis of Freedom and Authoritarianism (LAUT). Consultant member of the Special Committee on Criminal and Penitentiary Policy of the OAB/SP. Advisor to the Advisory Board of the Police Ombudsman of the State of São Paulo.

Henrique Almeida (University of São Paulo): Ph.D. in Law and Political Economy (University of São Paulo). Incoming post-doctoral fellow at Getúlio Vargas Foundation for 2023, affiliated with the Core of Law and Political Economy (NUDEP). He is primarily interested in how the State’s organizational structure and the agency of non-official actors shape one another. His past research projects have applied socio-legal and comparative political approaches to the study of public-private relations in economic policy, institutionalized participation in healthcare policymaking and civil society under autocratization processes.

José Mauricio Arruti (Unicamp): Professor Dr. do Dep. de Antropologia da UNICAMP e pesquisador do CEBRAP, vinculado ao Núcleo Afro. Desenvolve pesquisas com comunidades quilombolas e povos indígenas, em especial sobre Etnicidade, Território, Memória e Educação. Atualmente coordena o projeto de pesquisa e extensão sobre acesso quilombola à justiça e o papel das defensorias públicas. Participa dos conselhos consultivos do Arquivo Edgar Leuenroth (AEL) e do Centro de Antropologia de Processos Educativos da Faculdade de Educação (CeAP); é pesquisador do Centro de Pesquisa em Etnologia Indígena (CPEI) e do Centro de Estudos Rurais (CERES), onde coordena o Laboratório de Pesquisa e Extensão com Populações Tradicionais Ameríndias e Afro-americanas (LaPPA).

Julia Goldani (FGV São Paulo Law School): Ph.D. candidate in Law and Development at FGV São Paulo Law School. Researcher at FGV’s Center for Racial Justice and Law, where she works on projects related to accountability for lethal police violence against Brazil’s black population. Current research interests also include public security policies, police reform and legal autocratization in contextes of historic state violence.

Juliana Vieira dos Santos (Coordenadora Jurídica da Rede Liberdade): Professor at the Federal Rural University of Rio de Janeiro (UFRRJ).

Karina Ansolabehere (National Autonomous University of Mexico): Researcher at the Institute of Legal Research of the National Autonomous University of Mexico. Her research areas are mass human rights violations and justice process in post-transitional settings as well as judicial change and innovation in Latin America. Co-Editor with Rachel Sieder and Tatiana Alfonso of the Handbook on Law and Society in Latin America, Routledge, and with Barbara Frey and Leigh Payne of the volume Disappearances in the Post-transition Era in Latin America (OUP).

Lara Côrtes (LawTransform/University of Bergen): Coordinator for LawTransform and Post-Doctoral Researcher at the Christian Michelsen Institute (CMI) for the Pluriland project.

Livia Buzolin (FGV São Paulo Law School). Lívia Gonçalves Buzolin (FGV São Paulo Law School). Ph.D candidate in Law and Development at FGV São Paulo Law School. Law Professor at Franca Law School. Researcher for the Project on Autocratic Legalism, linked to the Centre on Law and Political Economy at FGV Direito SP. Founder of the South-South Network, formed by CMI-UiB Centre on Law & Social Transformation affiliates. Lívia’s work is in the field of socio-legal studies, and her research interests include sexuality, gender, race, human rights, legislative processes, and courts.

Luciana Gross Cunha (FGV São Paulo Law School): Professor at Getúlio Vargas Foundation. Member of the Centre for Justice and Constitution at FGV São Paulo Law School.

Mariana Mota Prado (University of Toronto): Professor of International Law and Development in the Faculty of Law at the University of Toronto.

Mario Schapiro (FGV São Paulo Law School): Professor at Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Researcher at the Laboratory of Data and Empirical research in Law (LabDados) and the Core of Law and Political Economy (NUDEP).

Marjorie Marona (UFMG): Professor at the Federal University of Minas Gerais (UFMG), Political Science. Researcher at the Institute of Democracy and Democratisation of Communication (INCT/IDDC). Co-organizer of Democracia e Justiça na América Latina: para onde vamos? (EdUerj, 2022) and coauthor of A Lava-Jato e a erosão da Democracia no Brasil (Autêntica, 2021). Her research area focuses on comparative judicial politics in Latin America.

Marta Machado (FGV São Paulo Law School): Professor and coordinator of the school’s Academic Master’s and Doctorate Program. Senior researcher at CEBRAP; Fellow at the International Reproductive and Sexual Health Law Program, University of Toronto School; Associate researcher at the Oxford Human Rights Hub; Main Investigator at Maria Sibylla Merian Centre Conviviality-Inequality in Latin America (MECILA).

Matthew Taylor (American University): Matthew Taylor is Professor of International Studies and acting Associate Dean of Research at the School of International Service at American University. Taylor is the author or editor of five books and a variety of articles on Latin America. His most recent books are Decadent Developmentalism: The Political Economy of Democratic Brazil (Cambridge University Press, 2020) and Brazilian Politics on Trial: Corruption and Reform Under Democracy (Lynne Rienner, 2022), co-authored with Luciano Da Ros.

Mauricio Palma (FGV São Paulo Law School): Post-Doctoral Fellow at the FGV São Paulo Law School. Author of the book “Technocracy and Selectivity: NGOs, the UN Security Council and Human Rights” (2019), Nomos.

Mauricio Terena (APIB): Legal Advisor at the Articulation of the Indigenous People in Brazil (APIB), and consulting member of the Special Commission of the Indigenous’ Peoples’ Rights of the OAB/DF. Integrant of the Indigenous Terena People of the state of Mato Grosso do Sul.

Michelle Ratton Sanchez Badin (FGV São Paulo Law School).

Nathalia Sandoval (FGV RI). Nathalia Sandoval is an Assistant Professor at the School of International Relations of the Fundação Getulio Vargas (FGV-RI). She holds a Ph.D. in Government from the University of Texas at Austin. She earned her M.A in Political Science at the Universidad de los Andes in Colombia. She studied Law and specialised in Constitutional Law at the Universidad Nacional de Colombia. She specialises in law and politics, and comparative politics. Specifically, her research focuses on Latin American courts and human rights, and the relationship between those national institutions and local communities.

Oscar Vilhena (FGV São Paulo Law School): Dean and Professor at FGV São Paulo Law School. Founder of Conectas Human Rights, Pro Bono Institute, and Law Schools Global League (LSGL). He coordinates the multidisciplinary team at FGV, which prepares the assessment of social and environmental damage resulting from the collapse of the Fundão dam, in Mariana, for the Federal Prosecution Office.

Paola Bergallo (Torcuato Di Tella University): Associate Professor at the School of Law and Adjunct Researcher at the Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas (CONICET). Member of the Latin American Seminar on Constitutional Theory (SELA). 

Rachel Sieder (CIESAS): Senior Research Professor at the Center for Research and Graduate Studies in Social Anthropology (CIESAS) in Mexico City. Associate senior researcher at the Chr. Michelsen Institute and PI for the PluriLand project. Associate fellow at the Centre for Latin American and Caribbean Studies, School of Advanced Study, University of London. Research interests include: human rights, indigenous rights, social movements, indigenous law, legal anthropology, gender and law. Coeditor with Karina Ansolabehere and Tatiana Alfonso of The Handbook of Law and Society in Latin America, Routledge (2019).

Raquel Pimenta (FGV São Paulo Law School): Professor at Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Co-coordinator of the Core of Law and Political Economy (NUDEP).

Rebecca Abers (UnB): Professor of Political Science at the University of Brasília (UNB). Co-editor of the Revista Brasileira de Ciência Política. Co-coordinator of the RESOCIE Research group on Society State Relations. Member of the Advising Committee of the National Council of Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq).

Salvador Schavelzon (UNIFESP): Anthropologist (Museu Nacional-UFRJ), Professor and researcher at the Federal University of São Paulo (UNIFESP-OSASCO), Professor at the Postgraduate Program in Latin American Integration (PROLAM-USP). With works on Latin American constitutionalism, today researches indigenous cosmopolitics, Latin American politics and anthropological theory. He also writes at desinformemonos.org (México).

Sandra Botero (Del Rosario University):(Del Rosario University): Associate Professor, Faculty of International, Political and Urban Studies at the Universidad del Rosario.

Sheila de Carvalho (Coalizão Negra por Direitos): international human rights lawyer. Director of Political Advocacy at the Peregum Black Reference Institute. Founder and partner of Carvalho Siqueira Advogadas e Advogados. Coordinator of the Institutional Violence Nucleus of the OAB / SP Human Rights Commission and the Legal Reference Center of Artigo 19. Fellow of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Siri Gloppen (LawTransform/University of Bergen): Professor of Political Science at the Department of Government at the University of Bergen, Deputy Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at the University of Bergen, and founding Director of Centre on Law & Social Transformation (Lawtransform). Current projects include ´Sexual & Reproductive Rights Lawfare: Global Battles´, ‘Political determinants of sexual and reproductive health: Criminalisation, health impacts and game changers’ and Pluriland.

Sofia Rolim (FGV São Paulo Law School): Master in Law and Development at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation (FGV). Researcher for the Project on Autocratic Legalism, linked to the Centre on Law and Political Economy at FGV Direito SP. Public Servant in the Audit Court of the State of São Paulo.

Taís Penteado (FGV São Paulo Law School): Ph.D. Candidate in Law and Development at FGV São Paulo Law School and LL.M. candidate at Yale Law School. Collaborating Researcher at the Gender and Law Center at FGV São Paulo Law School and Tandem Fellow (Alexander von Humboldt Foundation) at the Max Planck Institute for the Study of Crime, Security and Law (Freiburg, Germany).

Tatiana Alfonso (ITAM): Professor at the Division of Social Sciences and Law at the Department of Law at the Autonomous Institute of Technology of Mexico (ITAM).

Carlos Andrés Baquero-Díaz (NYU): Carlos Andrés is a JSD student at NYU Law School. His research interests include environmental law, human rights, multiculturalism, and governance. On his dissertation project, he explores the relationship between property rights and environmental protection in tropical forests.