International Judicial Monitor
Published by the American Society of International Law and the International Judicial Academy
Decenber 2006, Volume 1, Issue 5
 

Justice In Profile

Judge Cecelia Medina Quiroga

Judge Cecelia Medina QuirogaJudge Cecelia Medina Quiroga is the only woman judge on the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, and was elected to the court in 2004.  The Inter-American Court of Human Rights is an autonomous judicial institution based in the city of San Jose, Costa Rica.  The Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights comprise the human rights protection system of the Organization of American States, which works to uphold and promote basic rights and freedoms in the Americas.

From 1995 to 2002 Judge Quiroga was a member of the UN Human Rights Committee, which she chaired in 1999 to 2000. During her tenure as Chair of the Committee, she wrote the landmark general comment 28 to Article 3 of the United Nations International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) on the equal rights of men and women.  She is the founder of the Human Rights Center at the University of Chile, where she has also initiated a post-graduate course on women’s human rights.

On November 2, 2006, the Peter Gruber Foundation awarded Judge Quiroga a gold medal and $100,000 for “advancing the rights of women through the framework of international law.”  The Peter Gruber Foundation, Women’s Rights Prize recognizes individuals and groups that have made noteworthy achievements to further the rights of women and girls and educating the public of these rights to obtain a just world.  Judge Navanethem Pillay, International Criminal Court, received the prize in 2003.

Judge Quiroga is working to educate lawyers about human rights and how women’shuman rights should be incorporated into the mainstream of international law.

Judge Quiroga obtained her master’s degree from the University of Chile and her doctorate in law from the University of Utrecht, Netherlands.  She has taught human rights law at Harvard University Law School, as well as in Holland and Sweden.

Susan Notar, Esq, International Legal Materials (ILM) Managing Editor, ASIL

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ASIl & International Judicial AcademyInternational Judicial Monitor
© 2006 – The American Society of International Law and International Judicial Academy.

Editors: James G. Apple, Andrew Solomon and Maria Staunton.
IJM welcomes comments, suggestions, and submissions.
Please contact the IJM editors at IJM@asil.org.