gender justice uncovered

The Jury

Kudakwashe Chitsike
Attorney and women's rights activist

Kudakwashe Chitsike is a Zimbabwean women’s rights activist, lawyer and the Programme Manager at the Research and Advocacy Unit (RAU) where she documents human rights violations against women, specifically analyzing the political violations and their socio-ecomonic effects. Prior to joining RAU in 2006, she worked in different capacities on human rights, democracy and governance issues in Zimbabwe. Kudakwashe holds a Masters degree in International Public Law from the University of Stellenbosch in South Africa.

Click here to watch RAU’s recent documentary: “Hear Us – Zimbabwean Women Affected by Political Violence Speak Out”

Juan Méndez
Visiting professor of law at American University, former president of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights

Juan E. Méndez is a Visiting Professor of Law at the American University – Washington College of Law, and an advisor on crime prevention to the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court. Until May of this year he was the President of the International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ) and in the summer of 2009 he was a Scholar-in-Residence at the Ford Foundation in New York. Concurrent with his duties at ICTJ, the Honorable Kofi Annan named Mr. Mendez his Special Advisor on the Prevention of Genocide, a task he performed from 2004 to 2007.

A native of Argentina, Mr. Méndez has dedicated his legal career to the defense of human rights and has a long and distinguished record of advocacy throughout the Americas. As a result of his involvement in representing political prisoners, the Argentinean military dictatorship arrested him and subjected him to torture and administrative detention for more than a year. During this time, Amnesty International adopted him as a “Prisoner of Conscience.” After his expulsion from his country in 1977, Mr. Méndez moved to the United States. For 15 years, he worked with Human Rights Watch, concentrating his efforts on human rights issues in the western hemisphere. In 1994, he became general counsel of Human Rights Watch, with worldwide duties in support of the organization’s mission, including responsibility for litigation and standard‑setting activities.

From 1996 to 1999, Mr. Méndez was the Executive Director of the Inter‑American Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica, and between October 1999 and May 2004 he was Professor of Law and Director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana. Between 2000 and 2003 he was a member of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights of the Organization of American States, and served as its President in 2002. He has taught International Human Rights Law at Georgetown Law School and at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, and he teaches regularly at the Oxford Masters Program in International Human Rights Law in the United Kingdom.

He is the recipient of several human rights awards, the most recent being a Doctorate Honoris Causa from the University of Quebec in Montreal; the inaugural “Monsignor Oscar A. Romero Award for Leadership in Service to Human Rights,” by the University of Dayton in April 2000; and the “Jeanne and Joseph Sullivan Award” of the Heartland Alliance in May 2003. Mr. Méndez is a member of the bar of Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the District of Columbia, U.S., having earned a J.D. from Stella Maris University in Argentina and a certificate from the American University Washington College of Law.

Rosa Montero
Journalist and writer

A native of Madrid, Spain, she studied journalism and psychology. She worked with several independent theater groups like Canon and Tábano at a time when she had started publishing her articles in different media (Fotogramas, Pueblo, Posible). Since 1976 she has worked exclusively for the Spanish newspaper El País, in which she was the editor-in-chief of the Sunday supplement from 1980 to 1981. In 1981 she won the National Journalism Award for her chronicles and literary pieces. She is the author of the following novels: Absent Love: A Chronicle (Crónica del desamor) (1979), The Delta Function (La Función Delta) (1981), Te trataré como a una reina (1983), Amado Amo (1988), Temblor (1990), Bella y Oscura (1993), La hija del caníbal (Winner Primavera Novel Award 1997), El corazón del Tártaro (2001), La Loca de la casa (2003) (Winner Qué Leer Award to the best book of the year and of the Grinzane Cavour Award to the best foreign book published in Italy in 2005), Historia del rey transparente (2005) (Winner Qué Leer Award to the best book of the year and of the Mandarache Award) and Instrucciones para salvar el mundo (2007). She is also the author of the book of short stories Amantes y enemigos, two biographic essays, Historias de mujeres y Pasiones, as well as several children’s stories, interview compilations and articles. Her work has been translated to over 20 languages.