Academy Co-Director Diego Rodríguez-Pinzón introduces Alumni Association President Juan Pablo Albán at the 2006 Awards Luncheon
Welcome to the Friends of the Competition!
The purpose of this page is to establish and maintain a communication space between all the Inter American Human Rights Moot Court Competition Participants Society members and related persons.
Our goal is to continue to develop relationships with Competition participants long after they have written their memorials and presented their oral arguments. Competition alumni have gone on to start non-profit organizations, work at newly-created State-level human rights commissions, and teach international human rights law to future human rights activist throughout the region.
Check back here often as the alumni group expands. We intend to highlight alumni and connect past and future participants.
Join us as we begin a new decade of stimulating law students throughout the world to question the status quo and to use the law to redress human rights violations.
BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The Board of Directors 2011-2012 of the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition Participant Association:
President: Namiko Matzumoto
Namiko Matzumoto Benitez has a Bachelors degree in Law from the Universidad Veracruzana as well as a Masters in Judicial Psychology and Criminology and a Doctorate in Law, both from the Instituto Universitario de Puebla. She has participated in the Academy of Humany Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University’s Washington College of Law (WCL) where she has enrolled in such courses as “The Inter-American Human Rights System,” “The United Nations Human Rights System,” “International Humanitarian Law,” and “Litigation and Activism in Human Rights.”
She was a participant in the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competition, held by the WCL, in 1998 and returned as a couch to teams representing la Universidad Veracruzana in 2002 and 2003. She has also served as a judge in that same Competition since 2004.
Namiko Matzumoto Benitez has also coached a team from the Universidad Veracruzana participating in the Second Inter-University Human Rights and International Law Competition, held in Puebla, Mexico in 2008. The Competition was organized by the Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla in conjunction with the Commission on Human Rights of the State of Puebla and the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Puebla. Namiko has participated in numerous other similar competitions as a judge, including the Concurso Nacional de Derechos Humanos de Colombia in 2010 and various other human rights competitions in Mexico.
Her academic activities include serving as a full-time researcher at the Dirección General de Investigaciones de la Universidad Veracruzana Faculty of Law. There, she teaches courses on International Public Law, International Private Law, the Inter-American System of Human Rights, and International Humanitarian Law. She also serves as coordinator of the Unversidad Veracruzana Program on Human Rights and of the International Network of Law Schools and Faculties in Favor of a Culture of Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law.
Additionally, she is author of diverse articles concerning such topics as human rights (especially those of children and women), torture, and the environment. She is co-author of Analisis de la Jurisprudencia del Corte Internamericana and Constitucion Politica del Estado de Veracruz, Comentada.
She was recognized by the government of the state of Veracruz as part of the celebration of International Women’s Day for her work on behalf of women’s human rights in March 2007 and for her contribution to the Inter-American Human Rights Competition in 2010.
First Vicepresident: Laura Alicia Camarillo
Laura Alicia Camarillo Govea received a law degree, a Masters in International Affairs, and a Diploma of Advanced Studies from the Universidad Autónoma de Baja California. She is currently a PhD candidate in Constitutional Law at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Toledo, Spain.
She has participated in the Academy of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at American University’s Washington College of Law where she enrolled in courses on litigation and activism, impunity and international justice, the human rights system and the United Nations and the inter-American human rights system. She has also studied at the Academy of Public and Private International Law at The Hague in Holland. Laura Camarillo Govea received a specialization in fundamental constitutional rights in the twenty-first century through the UCLM and a Diploma in Human Rights through the Mexican National Commission of Human Rights in conjunction with the Office of Human Rights and Citizen Protection and the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California.
She participated in the Inter-American Moot Human Rights Moot Court Competition organized by American University WCL in 1999 and again in 2007-2011. Additionally, in 2009 and 2010 she advised teams from la Universidad Autonoma de Baja California (UABC) in the Inter-University Human Rights and International Law Competition, organized by the Universidad Iberoamericana de Puebla, the Human Rights Commission of the State of Puebla, and the Benemerita Universidad Autonoma de Pueblo. In 2010, the team she advised won first place in this competition. She has also served as a judge on two occasions at the Ibero-American International Law and Human Rights Competition, Francisco Suarez, held in Bogota, Columbia.
Between competitions, Laura Camarillo Govea serves as a full time professor in the Tijuana Faculty of Law at the Universidad Autonoma de Baja California where she teaches courses in public and private international law and international human rights. Until 2010 she also served as Coordinator of the Masters in Law program at the same university.
Other activities and distinctions:
Laura Camarillo Govea was a speaker at the Fifteenth Annual Conference on Autonomous Law of Castilla-La Mancha, held at the Faculty of Social Sciences of Cuenca at UCLM, March 16-17, 2011. She also spoke at the Fourth Latin American Conference on Constitutional Law "Rights and Constitutional Guarantees in Latin America,” held in Toledo at the University of Castilla-La Mancha, January 18, 2011 and at a conference concerning human rights, held December 14, 2010 at the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences of Toledo at the Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha. At the latter, her speech was entitled “Several Considerations about the right to life in the jurisprudence of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.” She has also been a guest lecturer at the Universidad Externado de Colombia, Bogota (where she taught a workshop on Human Rights in 2009) and a speaker at the Third Conference of International Law “The International Criminal Court, Safeguards, and a review of the Rome Statute,” held October 28 2009 at the Pontifica Universidad Javeriana, Faculty of Legal Sciences, in Bogota, Colombia.
Second Vicepresident: Mildred Lissette Hernandez
Mildren Lisette Abreu Hernandez has a Masters in Legal Practice (summa cum laude), with a concentration in Constitutional, Penal, and Civil Procedure from the Pontificia Universidad Catolica Madre y Maestra y la Fundacion Pellerano & Herrera. She also holds a bachelors degree in Law (cum laude) from the same university. She has participated in American University Washington College of Law’s Academy on Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law, focusing on the Inter-American system of human rights, litigation and activism in human rights, and implementation of human rights in domestic law. Similarly, she has enrolled in a program at the Universidad del Pais Vasco in Spain entitled Derecho Internacional y Relaciones Internacionales de Vitoria-Gasteiz. She has served as a judge in the fifteenth and sixteenth annual Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court Competitions at American University Washington College of Law in Washington, DC, and in the sixth and seventh Iberoamerican International Law and Human Rights Competitions at Francisco Suarez, S.J. in Bogota, Colombia. She is also a former participant in Model UN.
Mildren Abreu Hernandez has written and presented diverse papers, among them “Centroamérica1 y la República Dominicana: ¿Es necesaria la ratificación del convenio de la OIT, sobre Protección a la Maternidad, para hablar de una efictividad en la proteccion?” at the Second Latin-American Conference on International Relations and Law held in Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais, Brasil. Additional papers include “Inseguridad Ciudadana Revestida de Impunidad: Tribunales Militares,” and “El Derecho de las Personas Jurídicas en el Ámbito de protección de los Órganos del Sistema Interamericano de Derechos Humanos, Análisis Comparativo sobre la protección a la maternidad en las legislaciones laborales de Centroamérica y la República Dominicana.”
Secretary: Jose Lemus
Coming Soon
Treasurer: Javier Galindo
Coming Soon
The incoming Board of Directors wishes to welcome the new members of the Participant Association and also invite all the ex participants of the competition to register as members.
If you have any question or suggestion that will contribute to improve the work of the Participant Association and the Competition don’t hesitate to contact us at the email: participantassociation@gmail.com
You can also keep updated on the Association on their facebook page
Previous Board of Directors
Board of Directors 2010-2011
President: Daniel Andrés Salamanca Pérez
First Vice President: Ana Priscilla Ortíz Saborío
Second Vice President: Chacel Colorado Piña
Secretary: Santiago Medina
Treasurer: Marianna Belalba
Board of Directors 2009-2010
President: María José Veramendi Villa
First Vice-president: Juan Carlos Arjona Estévez
Second Vice-president: Jorge Calderón Gamboa
Secretary: David Cordero Heredia
Treasurer: María Daniela Rivero K
Board of Directors 2008-2009
President: Ángela Ramírez
First Vice-president: Carlos Bernal
Second Vice-president: David Cordero
Secretary: Santiago Pérez Calderón
Treasurers: Karlos Castilla and Adolfo Sánchez Alegre*
*For the period 2008-2009, the Board of Directors had two treasurers, due to the fact that there was a tie between two candidates and the Draft Bylaws do not establish what process to follow in case of ties.
Founding Board of Directors 2006-2008
President: Juan Pablo Albán
Vice-president: Julio José Rojas
Secretary: Nelson Camilo Sánchez
AWARDS
"Outstanding Contributions to the Competition" Award 2011: Adolfo Sanchez Alegre
Previous "Outstanding Contributions to the Competition" winners:
“Outstanding Contributions to the Competition” Award 2010: Namiko Mazumoto Benitez
Namiko Matzumoto Benítez, is probably one of the people that you can see more frequently in the competition since 1998 when she represented the Universidad Veracruzana where she is currently a profesor. Mrs Matzumoto is a technician in accountancy graduated from the Centro de Estudio Tecnológicos number 13 in Xalapa, Veracruz and is also a Lawyer from the Universidad Veracruzana. She has a Masters degree in Juridical Psychology and Criminology from the Instituto Universitario de Puebla and has a Ph.D. degree from the same institution at Xalapa’s Campus. She was the coach of her university’s team in 2002 and 2003, and she has been judge since 2004. Currently she is the Chief of the Unit Communications of the Administrative Tribunal of the State of Veracruz, Full time Researcher at the General Direction of Research of the Universidad Veracruzana and teaches the Interamerican Human Rights System and International Humanitarian Law courses in Law Faculty of the same university. Every participant that has ever been judged by her remarks on her outstanding knowledge of the Universal and Inter-American Systems as well to International Humanitarian Law. Out of the audiences, Namiko has become an endearing friend for coaches and participants, as well as judges and directors of the Academy
“Outstanding Contributions to the Competition” Award 2009: Dr. David S. Berry
Dr. David S. Berry is a Senior Lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of the West Indies (UWI), Cave Hill Campus, in Barbados. He teaches the general course in Public International Law, specialized courses in Caribbean Integration Law, Law of International Organizations, and International Mooting. He practices in the areas of Inter-American human rights, Caribbean Community law, investment arbitration law and the law of the sea.
Dr. Berry has been participating in the Inter-American Human Rights Moot Court competition every year since 1999 (with the exception of two years when he was overseas). He first attended the competition as an observer, and was immediately convinced to bring teams of students. The University of the West Indies sends two (2) teams each year because it represents theentire Caribbean region. At present the University serves 16 different countries or territories in the West Indies: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts/Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago. UWI’s teams are competitively selected, on the basis of both written and oral arguments, with all second and third year law students being eligible. Depending upon the composition of the two teams, one team tends to represent the Eastern, and the other the Western, Caribbean regions. Although the UWI team members are given basic training through their participation in the International Mooting course they are faced with the challenge of learning the Inter-American jurisprudence pretty much on their own, and without the luxury of many English language textbooks. But the participation by UWI students in the moot has had a ripple effect for knowledge of Inter-American law, and human rights law generally, in the Caribbean. Past participants have been so excited by the Inter-American jurisprudence that they have gone on to dedicate a substantial portion of their legal practice to human rights law. This is tremendously important for the Commonwealth Caribbean, where even though there is a strong jurisprudence of constitutional rights, there is not as great an awareness of international human rights or of the Inter-American system of human rights. Dr. Berry has himself been profoundly influenced by his experience in the competition. Many years of coaching has increased his awareness of the complexities of Inter-American human rights law, and he has had the privilege of putting some of this knowledge to use in litigation before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights.
“Rookie of the Year” Award 2011: Pontificia Universidad Católica Argentina
Previous “Rookie of the Year” Awards:
"Rookie of the Year" Award 2010: Universidad Icesi de Cali (Valle) Colombia
"Rookie of the Year" Award 2009: Universidade Federal do Rio de Janeiro
“Rookie of the Year” Award 2008: Universidad Católica de Colombia
“Rookie of the Year” Award 2007: Universidad Interamericana de Puerto Rico
“Rookie of the Year” Award 2006: Universidad de La Sabana (Colombia)
