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Astrid Puentes Riaño


Astrid Puentes Riaño is the United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment. She holds an LL.M. in Comparative Law from the University of Florida and a Master's in Environmental Law from the University of the Basque Country, and she earned her law degree from the University of Los Andes in Bogotá. She teaches at the Berta Cáceres Environmental Justice Clinic at the Ibero-American University in Mexico City, Mexico, and has over twenty years of experience in environmental law, human rights, and climate change, with a focus on their intersection through the lens of climate justice, diversity, equity, and inclusion. Astrid has worked for and alongside communities, environmental defenders, and Indigenous Peoples across Latin America—supporting the protection of their rights and territories—in countries such as Brazil, Colombia, Mexico, and Peru. She has also advised organizations including Franciscans International and Greenpeace International, and collaborated with various UN agencies, including the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in Mexico, the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and Climate Change, and the Special Rapporteur on Human Rights and the Environment. She was Co-Executive Director of the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) from 2003 to August 2021. Astrid has published numerous articles and lectured at institutions such as the American University Academy on Human Rights in Washington, D.C., and the Diploma in Strategic Litigation and Tools for the Defense of Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights at UNAM in Mexico, among others. She was selected as a Climate Parents Fellow from July 2022 to June 2023 and is one of the founders of "Mamás por el Clima" (Mothers for Climate) in Mexico City.

Andrea Repetto Vargas


Andrea Repetto Vargas is a Chilean lawyer and mediator with over 20 years of experience in accountability mechanisms, the promotion of human rights compliance, and mediation in Latin America and Africa. She has been the Director of the Independent Consultation and Investigation Mechanism (MICI) of the Inter-American Development Bank since 2021. As a conflict resolution specialist for the Compliance Advisor Ombudsman (CAO), Andrea managed multi-stakeholder dialogue processes across various sectors in Latin America and West Africa, addressing complex environmental and social project issues, including health, water, labor, resettlement, land, and pollution. Before joining the CAO in 2010, Andrea worked at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, monitoring human rights and international humanitarian law aspects of the demobilization process of the illegal armed group United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC), and served as country attorney for Brazil. She also worked in Chile on public interest matters for academic and non-governmental organizations. Andrea holds a law degree from Diego Portales University in Chile and a master’s degree in International and Comparative Law from the George Washington University Law School.

Humberto Cantú Rivera


Humberto Cantú Rivera is a Professor at the Faculty of Law and Director of the Business and Human Rights Institute at the University of Monterrey. He holds a Ph.D. in Law from the University of Paris 2 Panthéon-Assas. He leads the Latin American Academy for Business and Human Rights and was a member of the Editorial Board of the Business and Human Rights Journal (2017–2024). He has been a visiting researcher at the Bonavero Institute of Human Rights at the University of Oxford and a visiting professor at universities in Colombia, Brazil, the United States, Germany, and France. He has advised Latin American governments, companies, business associations, and international organizations on business and human rights matters. Since 2015, he has served as an expert advisor to the Mexican delegation in the negotiation of a United Nations international treaty on business and human rights. He also served as an expert witness before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in the case Lemoth Morris and Others (Miskito Divers) v. Honduras. In July 2024, he was appointed by the UN as the legal expert for Latin America to support the intergovernmental negotiation of the treaty on business and human rights. He has an extensive academic output, including ten books.

Catalina Botero Marino


Catalina Botero Marino is a lawyer, Chair  of the UNESCO Chair on Freedom of Expression at Universidad de Los Andes, and member of Columbia University's Columbia Global Freedom of Expression. She is was a member of the external transparency panel of the Inter-American Development Bank, and is a current member of the external transparency panel of the BIDINVEST. She is a commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and member of the Advisory Board of the International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI). She has been an adjunct professor at American University's Human Rights Academy and visiting professor at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law. She was Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights/OAS, Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Universidad de Los Andes, co-chair of the Oversight Board of Meta and an Associate Judge of the Constitutional Court and of the Council of State in Colombia.

Fernanda Hopenhaym Cabrera


Fernanda Hopenhaym Cabrera is a business and human rights specialist. With over twenty years of experience working on human rights, economic and gender justice, she has been focusing for 15 years in promoting corporate and financial accountability vis-a-vis these issues, leading research, community organizing and international advocacy projects. She is an independent expert, member of the UN Working Group on Business and Human Rights, and Co-Executive Director at the Project on Organizing, Development, Education and Research (PODER). Fernanda serves in the Boards of Directors of Earth Rights Internationl, All Out and SOMO, and she’s part of the advisory network for the International Business and Human Rights Award Foundation. She is a guest lecturer at Standford-Law, University of Zurich, University of the Basque Country,
Universidad Externado in Colombia, Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico.