Human Rights in Practice: Almudena Bernabeu

The Human Rights in Practice series enables students to engage with international law and human rights practitioners in an informal setting and explore diverse career paths in the field.

Almudena Bernabeu is a renowned international lawyer with a long career in the fields of Transitional Justice and International Criminal and Human Rights Law. During her years as Transitional Justice Director at the U.S.-based organization Center for Justice & Accountability, Ms. Bernabeu successfully litigated more than a dozen civil cases brought under the Alien Tort Statute and criminal cases in Europe under the Principle of Universal Jurisdiction to assist victims achieve truth and accountability for international crimes. Almudena has been rewarded internationally for her contribution to justice and accountability mechanisms around the world, in particular, for bringing landmark cases in Guatemala, El Salvador, Peru, Chile, Argentina and Ecuador and many other countries.

Bernabeu was named in Time magazine's 200 most influential people and awarded the Letelier-Moffit Human Rights prize. Bernabeu holds an LL.M. degree in International Law from the University of Valencia, where she specialized in Public International Law; she is a member of the Valencia and Madrid Bar Associations and the American Bar Association. Bernabeu received a honoris causa Ph.D. by the University of Santa Clara, California in 2013.