On October 30 and 31, 2025, the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law and the War Crimes Research Office at American University Washington College of Law hosted the 4th Discussion Roundtable on Strategic Litigation on Gender-Based Violence in Latin America of the Latin American Network for Gender-based Strategic Litigation (ReLeG).  

The event was made possible thanks to the support of the ACTUEMOS initiative of UN Women and the European Union, which seeks to strengthen women’s participation in global and regional spaces and foster transformative feminist action to eliminate violence against women.  

The roundtable  gathered members of ReLeG from across Latin America, along with representatives from co-sponsoring entities, allied organizations, and subject-matter experts, all committed to advancing gender justice in the region.  

This fourth edition offered an opportunity to strengthen ReLeG’s role in monitoring, documenting and promoting strategic litigation initiatives on gender issues—contributing to legal education through a gender perspective and supporting the development of public policy and legislative reforms that promote gender equality and access to justice. Through a series of panels, participants identified challenges, shared best practices and fostered regional collaboration around emerging issues such as violence in digital environments or the gendered impacts of organized crime.  

Prof. Claudia Martin, Co-director of the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law,  and Prof. Susana SaCouto, Director of the War Crimes Research Office —both co-founders and coordinators of ReLeG— served as co-hosts and moderators of the roundtable. Prof. Claudia Martin presented the findings of a report on the implementation of reparations in the Inter-American Human Rights System, while Prof. Susana SaCouto moderated a panel on gender-based violence and transnational crime in Latin America.  

The conference’s success was also due to the hard work and dedication of Dalila Seoane, Director of Colombia and Peru at the Center for Climate Crime Analysis, and her team, Silvia Scozia and Sabrina Frydman, human rights consultants. Special recognition also goes to Adriana Buenaventura Martinez, Senior Coordinator at the Academy on Human Rights, and Carmen Ponce Moreda, Research Assistant at the Academy on Human Rights, for their key roles in the successful implementation of the event.