Viviana Krsticevic

Last updated
Viviana Krsticevic
Viviana Krsticevic (sq cropped).jpg
in 2016
Born1967  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Education Bachelor of Laws, Master of Arts, Master of Laws   OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Alma mater
OccupationHuman rights lawyer  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg
Employer
  • Center for Justice and International Law  OOjs UI icon edit-ltr-progressive.svg

Viviana Krsticevic is an international human rights lawyer from Argentina. [1] Since 2022, she has been one of the three members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran. [2]

Contents

Youth and education

Krsticevic obtained her Bachelor of Laws at the University of Buenos Aires, a Master of Arts degree in Latin American studies at Stanford University, and a Master of Laws at Harvard Law School. [3]

International human rights lawyer

Krsticevic's legal work has included representing victims of human rights violations in Latin America. She defended two hundred cases [4] at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and has been amicus curiae at the European Court of Human Rights. [3]

Krsticevic has taught at the American University Washington College of Law. [3] [5] As of 2026, [1] she has been the executive director of the human-rights non-governmental organization Center for Justice and International Law  [ de ] (CEJIL) [3] since 2015 or earlier. [6]

In November 2022, Krsticevic was appointed as one of the three volunteer (unsalaried) expert members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, along with Shaheen Sardar Ali from Pakistan and the chair of the mission, Sara Hossain from Bangladesh. [7] The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) created the fact-finding mission to investigate human rights violations in the Mahsa Amini protests [2] and provides administrative support staff for the three expert members of the mission. [7]

Points of view and activism

In 2015, Krsticevic criticised the ongoing human rights violations at Guantanamo Bay detention camp, including torture and the ongoing detention of 59 detainees who had been cleared of criminal charges and of 68 detainees classified as "indefinite detainees", which she described as a Kafkaesque legal term. She condemned the impunity for the suspected perpetrators of torture in the camp and for their command hierarchy. [6]

Krsticevic co-founded a campaign for gender parity in international institutions called the "Gqual Campaign". [1] In 2021, she argued that a report on the underrepresentation of women in international institutions by the Advisory Committee of the UNHRC could help to break the glass ceiling for women's participation in human-rights monitoring bodies and international courts. She expected that factors that would help achieve gender parity included improvements in communication and networking, as well as legal and institutional changes. [8]

In 2024, Krsticevic stated that her experience in the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran "strengthened [her] belief that the authoritarian playbooks can be cracked" by seeing a wide variety of Iranian women, supported by men, organising, speaking, and persistently insisting on equality and human rights. [4]

References

  1. 1 2 3 Biographies of the members of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Islamic Republic of Iran, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, January 2026, Wikidata   Q137849249, archived from the original on 22 January 2026
  2. 1 2 United Nations Human Rights Council (20 December 2022), President of Human Rights Council appoints members of investigative body on Iran, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, Wikidata   Q137846721, archived from the original on 22 January 2026
  3. 1 2 3 4 Viviana Krsticevic, Center for Justice and International Law, c. 2026, Wikidata   Q137849165, archived from the original on 22 January 2026
  4. 1 2 Marija Šajkaš (10 October 2024), Interview with Viviana Krsticevic on Violations of Women's Rights in Iran, Columbia University, Wikidata   Q137849086, archived from the original on 22 January 2026
  5. Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law – Viviana Krsticevic, American University Washington College of Law, c. 2026, Wikidata   Q137849257, archived from the original on 22 January 2026
  6. 1 2 Viviana Krsticevic (11 January 2015). "Guantanamo's shameful 13th year". Al Jazeera English . Wikidata   Q137849213. Archived from the original on 22 January 2026.
  7. 1 2 Ali, Sara Hossain, Viviana Krsticevic, Shaheen Sardar (2025-06-11). "An Update from the UN's Fact-Finding Mission". Just Security. Archived from the original on 2026-01-23. Retrieved 2026-01-23.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  8. Viviana Krsticevic (8 October 2021). "Symposium on Gender Representation: Time to Double our Efforts – New Report Creates an Exceptional Opportunity to Break the Glass Ceiling for Women in International Justice". Opinio Juris . ISSN   2326-0386. Wikidata   Q137849069. Archived from the original on 22 January 2026.