Jose Miguel Vivanco

Jos&eacute; Miguel Vivanco is the director of Americas Watch, a subsidiary of Human Rights Watch. From his profile:


 * Chilean attorney José Miguel Vivanco studied law at the University of Chile (1979-1983) and the University of Salamanca (1986). In 1990, he received a master's degree in law (LLM) from Harvard University. Between 1986 and 1989, Dr. Vivanco occupied posts, first, as judicial advisor and, later, as attorney for the executive secretariat of the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights of the Organization of American States (OAS). In 1990, he founded the Center for Justice and International Law (CEJIL) and was its executive director until August, 1994. CEJIL is a regional NGO which represents cases of human rights violation before international organizations specializing in these matters (UN and OAS). Since September 1994, he has been the executive director of the Americas division of the Human Rights Watch. Dr. Vivanco is also an associate professor at Georgetown Law School and at Johns Hopkins University's School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), both in Washington, DC. He has received recognition and fellowships for his work on human rights. He has published numerous articles and has given lectures in the United States, Latin America, and Europe."

On September 19, 2008, Vivanco and Daniel Wilkinson were expelled from Venezuela for "violat[ing] the constitution by criticizing the government while on tourist visas." Vivanco and Wilkinson had arrived from New York to release a HRW report on the Venezuelan political system, but both were ordered onto the first flight out of Venezuela.

Affiliations
In 2003 he was a board member of the Memory, Truth and Justice: Comparative Perspectives on National Reconciliation.
 * International Advisory Council, Center of Legal and Social Studies
 * Host Committee 2005, Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award

Related Sourcewatch articles

 * Daniel Wilkinson
 * NED Democracy Award