Human Rights

Renowned Human Rights Lawyer Juan E. Méndez Appointed Ford Foundation Resident Scholar

NEW YORK, 15 June 2009 — Juan E. Méndez, a prominent human rights lawyer, advocate and academic, has joined the Ford Foundation as a resident scholar. Méndez has distinguished himself as an innovative and longstanding defender of human rights. His representation of political prisoners in Argentina in the 1970s resulted in his arrest, torture and administrative detention by the country's military dictatorship. During this time, Amnesty International adopted him as one of its first Prisoners of Conscience and eventually aided in his release into exile.

Following his forced expulsion, Méndez moved to the United States to continue his work. Among many notable positions, he served as general counsel of Human Rights Watch; professor of law and director of the Center for Civil and Human Rights at the University of Notre Dame, Indiana; and president of the Organization of American States' Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.

"Juan's vast knowledge, immense life experiences and thoughtful perspective are inspiring and will tremendously benefit our ongoing efforts," said Maya Harris, vice president of the foundation's Peace and Social Justice program. "We are delighted to have him with us."

While at Ford, Méndez will serve as an advisor to the foundation's global human rights work. He will also complete an autobiography about his experiences in Argentina and the United States. From 2004 to 2007, Méndez was appointed the United Nations special adviser on the prevention of genocide. Most recently, he has served as president of the International Center for Transitional Justice. In the fall of 2009, Méndez will join the faculty of American University in Washington, D.C., as a visiting professor at the Washington College of Law.

Méndez 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. He is on the board of advisors of the Global Center for the Responsibility to Protect and on the advisory council of the American Bar Association Center for Human Rights.

Méndez is the recipient of several human rights awards, including the inaugural Monsignor Oscar A. Romero Award for Leadership in Service to Human Rights of the University of Dayton, and the Jeanne and Joseph Sullivan Award of the Heartland Alliance, Chicago. He is a member of the bar of Mar del Plata and Buenos Aires, Argentina, and the District of Columbia, U.S. He earned a J.D. from Stella Maris University, in Argentina, and a certificate from American University's Washington College of Law, in Washington D.C.

The Ford Foundation appoints resident scholars who have distinguished themselves in fields related to our work. During their tenure, scholars pursue independent projects that contribute to their expertise and provide the program staff with additional perspectives and knowledge.

Previous resident scholars and artists have included Albie Sachs, human rights and anti-apartheid activist and Justice of the South Africa Constitutional Court; Professor Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na'im, a professor of law and a leading scholar of Islam; the former U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees Sadako Ogata; South African writer and educator Njabulo Ndebele; actor and playwright Anna Deavere Smith; and Sir Brian Urquhart, former U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs.

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The Ford Foundation is an independent, nonprofit grant-making organization. For more than half a century it has worked with courageous people on the frontlines of social change worldwide, guided by its mission to strengthen democratic values, reduce poverty and injustice, promote international cooperation, and advance human achievement. With headquarters in New York, the foundation has offices in Latin America, Africa, the Middle East, and Asia.