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Rapporteur on Memory, Truth, and Justice
Andrea Pochak was appointed Commissioner by the 53rd OAS General Assembly for the period January 2024-December 2027. She is a lawyer and activist, specialized in human rights from the Republic of Argentina, with extensive experience in the Inter-American Human Rights System. Throughout her career, she has held various public positions and has been a member of important human rights organizations. In this sense, she served as Undersecretary of Protection and International Liaison of the National Secretariat of Human Rights; she was a member of the National Commission of Refugees; General Director of Human Rights of the Public Prosecutor's Office; and Head of Technical Cooperation Projects of the Institute of Public Policies on Human Rights of MERCOSUR. She was also Deputy Director of the Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS), and representative for Argentina of the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL). She is a guest lecturer and author of articles on human rights, criminal law and the administration of justice. She is a citizen of Argentina.
2022 - 2023
Commissioner Julissa Mantilla Falcón 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. As a lawyer, she specializes in human rights and has 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 in the Peruvian Ombudspersons Office and was in charge of gender issues in the Commission for Truth and Reconciliation in Peru. She has served as an international consultant on transitional justice for UN Women. She is a professor at the Law School and the master’s degree in Human Rights at the PUCP and at the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the American University’s Washington College of Law. She has lectured internationally and authored several academic publications. She is a citizen of Peru.
2018 - 2021
Commissioner Antonia Urrejola Noguera was elected by the General Assembly of the OAS on June 21, 2017, for a four-year term from January 1, 2018 through December 31, 2021. She graduated as a lawyer from the University of Chile and has a postgraduate diploma in Human Rights and Transitional Justice. She worked as a human rights advisor for the Chilean Presidency, mainly drafting and processing bills about institutions that deal with human rights, children, and sexual diversity. Following the return of democracy in Chile, she worked in the Special Commission for Indigenous Peoples, and later at the Ministry of National Assets and the Ministry of Planning and Cooperation, where she focused on the rights of indigenous peoples. She served as an advisor to the Ministry of the Interior, particularly concerning its Human Rights Program and matters of memory, truth, and justice. She was involved in drafting and processing various bills on national institutions that dealt with human rights, political detention, and torture, among other issues. She has also worked as a consultant for international organizations including the UNDP, the ILO, FLACSO, the JSCA, and the IDB on matters concerning ILO Convention 169 on Indigenous and Tribal Peoples and the Inter-American Human Rights System, among other topics. She was a principal advisor to the former Secretary General of the OAS between 2006 and 2011. She has been a guest professor at several universities and other institutions, on the subject of the Inter-American Human Rights System. She is a citizen of Chile.
2014 - 2017
Commissioner Paulo Vannuchi was the first person in charge of the Unit on Memory, Truth, and Justice after its creation, in March 2017, being in this appointment until the end of his term as Commissioner on December 31, 2017. During his mandate, Commissioner Paulo Vannuchi promoted the holding of public consultation with the main objective of receiving suggestions on the priority lines of action with a view to preparing the work plan of the Thematic Unit for the period 2018-2019. A citizen of Brazil, he was elected at the 43rd regular session of the OAS General Assembly in June 2013 for the statutory period of four years, starting on January 1, 2014. Paulo Vannuchi is a political and trade union consultant. In his youth, he was imprisoned for five years for activities of resistance to the military dictatorship of Brazil. He studied journalism at the University of São Paulo, with a Master's degree in Political Science. He was a member of the work team that carried out the investigation "Brazil Never Again", he was a co-founder of the Cajamar Institute and political advisor to the national leadership of the Brazilian Workers Party. He was also Executive Secretary of the National Coordination of the Lula President Campaign in 1994 and 2002. He held various positions, including that of President, at the Citizenship Institute, coordinated by Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva. He was Minister of Human Rights in the Lula Government between December 21, 2005, and December 31, 2010, and President of the Council for the Defense of Human Rights, the National Commission to Eradicate Slave Labor, and the National Prevention Committee and Combat Torture in Brazil. He is the author of articles and publications on political science and human rights, among other topics.