IACHR elects its Board of Directors for 2022

March 7, 2022

Washington D.C. - The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) elected its Board of Directors during the opening of its 183rd session, on March 7, 2022, at its headquarters in Washington D.C. The Board is composed of Julissa Mantilla Falcón as President, Ms. Stuardo Ralón as First Vice President, and Ms. Margarette May Macaulay as Second Vice President.

The new president of the IACHR, Commissioner Julissa Mantilla Falcón, was elected by the OAS General Assembly in June 2019 for a four-year term from January 1, 2020, to December 31, 2023. She is the first Peruvian president of the IACHR. She is a human rights lawyer with a degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru (PUCP), a Diploma in Gender from the PUCP, and an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the London School of Economics and Political Science (LSE) at the University of London. She worked at the Peruvian Ombud's Office and led the Gender Area of the Peruvian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. She was an International Advisor on Transitional Justice for UN Women.

The First Vice President is Commissioner Edgar Stuardo Ralón Orellana, who was elected by the General Assembly of the OAS during its 49th Regular Period of Sessions, on June 28, 2019, for a four-year term from January 1, 2020, through December 31, 2023. He is a constitutional lawyer of Guatemala. He has been professionally active for 20 years and, as a legal expert, has specialized in constitutional law.

On her part, the Second Vice President, Commissioner Margarette May Macaulay was elected by the General Assembly of the OAS on June 28, 2019, for a second four-year term from January 1, 2020 through December 31, 2023. She holds a Bachelor of Laws degree from the University of London and is currently an attorney in private practice. She serves as Mediator in the Supreme Court of Jamaica, as Associate Arbitrator, and as Notary Public. She was a Judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from 2007 to 2012, contributing to the formulation of the Court's Rules of Procedure. She is an honored member of the Gender Justice Legacy Wall of notable women's rights advocates.

The election of the Board of Directors takes place every year, in accordance with the Commission's Rules of Procedure, on the first day of the first Period of Sessions of the year.

The IACHR is composed of 7 persons, in addition to the members of the Board of Directors, there are Commissioners Esmeralda Arosemena de Troitiño, Roberta Clarke, Joel Hernández García and Carlos Bernal Pulido. The Commission's Executive Secretariat is headed by Tania Renaum Panzi. As for the Special Rapporteurships, Pedro Vaca is the Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression and Soledad García Muñoz is the Special Rapporteur on Economic, Social, Cultural and Environmental Rights.

A principal, autonomous body of the Organization of American States (OAS), the IACHR derives its mandate from the OAS Charter and the American Convention on Human Rights. The Inter-American Commission has a mandate to promote respect for and to defend human rights in the region and acts as a consultative body to the OAS in this area. The Commission is composed of seven independent members who are elected in an individual capacity by the OAS General Assembly and who do not represent their countries of origin or residence.

No. 048/22

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