José Miguel Vivanco, former Executive Director of Human Rights Watch’s Americas division, is a general expert on Latin America.
Before joining Human Rights Watch, Vivanco worked as an attorney for the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights at the Organization of American States (OAS). In 1990, he founded the Center for Justice and International Law, an NGO that files complaints before international human rights bodies.
As Human Rights Watch (HRW) Executive Director, he supervised fact-finding research for numerous reports on gross violations of human rights. He was Chief strategist in selecting priorities based on law and policy for the Americas Division of HRW. He regularly met heads of state and ministers in Latin America, United States and Europe, as well as provided testimony before international organizations and domestic institutions. As HRW-Americas Executive Director, he achieved some major achievements:
- Worked closely with US Senate Appropriations Committee to define foreign government performance benchmarks to receive US assistance in programs through-out the Americas.
- Joint investigation with Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine to assess the humanitarian crisis in Venezuela. Report was discussed in an unprecedented meeting at the U.N. Security Council.
- Proposed recommendations to the European Union and OECD to promote Brazil’s compliance with its international obligations on sustainable development, forest conservation, and rule of law in the Amazon.
- Engaged with key officials, including Speaker of the US House of Representatives, White House, Government of Colombia, AFL-CIO during negotiations of US Colombia Free Trade Agreement, including establishing tribunals to address labor union grievances.
- Highlevel engagement with governments of Peru and Chile, and international l gal/policy experts to provide amicus curie brief to Chilean Supreme Court. Contributed to jurisprudence which granted extradition of Fujimori to Peru for human rights abuse and corruption.
- Negotiated directly with Fidel Castro to obtain the release of six political prisoners in Cuba
He has spoken at U.N. agencies, the World Bank, OAS, foreign governments, the Ford Foundation, and several academic institutions including Yale University; Harvard Law School; Stanford Law School; Georgetown School of Foreign Service; University of Berk ley; Columbia Law School; Washington College of Law, Casa de America/Madrid; University of Heidelberg; Oxford University.
He is a true insider in Washington, especially in legal matters related to Latin America. His experience and reputation make him an exceptional advisor for conflict resolution in Latin America, including for the private sector.
A native Chilean and US citizen, Vivanco studied law at the University of Chile and Salamanca Law School in Spain and holds an LL.M. from Harvard Law School. He currently resides in Washington D.C.
