Silvia Serrano Guzmán
Country
Colombia
Education
J.D. equivalent Universidad Autónoma de Bucaramanga, Abogada, 2006; LL.M. International Legal Studies, International Human Rights Certificate, Georgetown University Law Center, 2013; Master in Law in Legal Argumentation, University of Alicante, 2014
Faculty Advisor
Oscar A. Cabrera
Areas of Study
International Human Rights Law, Comparative Anti-Discrimination Law
Silvia’s research project explores the comparative approaches to indirect discrimination or adverse impact discrimination in international, regional and domestic jurisdictions. This research includes a comparative analysis of the foundations of the prohibition of indirect discrimination and the challenges that typically arise in the adjudication of cases. The concern of this research is to evaluate the potential and limits of the prohibition of indirect discrimination to achieve substantive equality.
Silvia is an Adjunct Professor of Law at Georgetown Law and the Associate Director of the Healthy Families Initiative at the O’Neill Institute for National and Global Health Law at Georgetown.
Before joining the O’Neill Institute, she carried out different responsibilities as an attorney at the Executive Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR) where she had the responsibility to manage the portfolio of cases at the merits stage regarding the member states of the Organization of American States (OAS) and to supervise the preparation of the reports on the merits. She was also responsible for the litigation of cases submitted to the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (IACtHR). She acted as legal counsel for the IACHR in contentious cases on a variety of issues of international human rights law including cases of grave human rights violations, transitional justice, the death penalty, the right to health, discrimination based on sexual orientation, indigenous people’s rights, human rights defenders, the rights of children and adolescents, migrants rights, gender-based violence, and reproductive health. The impact of many of these cases included structural reforms in domestic legal systems, the judiciary, and public policy.
Silvia has trained state officials in different countries in international human rights law. She has also worked with human rights defenders and civil society organizations in capacity building, including training on the use of international mechanisms for the protection of human rights. She also teaches in masters and specialization programs in various law schools and institutions in Latin America.