Miriam Estrada-Castillo
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Dr. Miriam Estrada-Castillo , born in Guayaquil, Ecuador, in 1950, is a Lawyer specialised in Constitutional Comparative Law, International Criminal Law, Human Rights, Women's and Children's Rights. Dr. Estrada comes from a well-known Italian descendant Ecuadorian family of politicians, jurists, and diplomats. Daughter of Dr. Pablo Estrada Valle, founder of one of the most important political parties of the country and mother of three children, Alfredo Antonio, Fernando Mauricio and Albayolanda Gil Estrada; Dr. Estrada is known as the first Ecuadorian woman ever deployed to a UN peace keeping operation Mission of the UN Department of Peace Keeping Operations as a member of the first Civilian Support Group of Advisers elected by the UN Security Council as “the one hundred most highly qualified candidates in the world” under the recommendations of “The Report of the Panel on UN Peace Operations,” commonly known as the Brahimi Report.
As the Chairperson of the Civilian Support Group of Advisers, Dr. Estrada worked for three and a half years on the first Nation Building experience of the United Nations in accordance to the mandate established by the UN Security Council regarding Timor-Leste. Dr. Estrada acted as the International Prosecutor and Senior Legal Adviser to the Timorese Minister of Justice. She established and organised the legal structure and administrative management system for the Prosecutor General Office and the Prosecution Services for Timor-Leste. She wrote the necessary criminal laws and procedures for the country and developed capacity building activities for its officers. Dr. Estrada created the Timorese National Policy on Legal Education, ensured the inclusion of Human Rights principles, gender mainstream and children rights as cross-cutting issues in the Timorese National Syllabi adopted by the First Judicial Training Centre of Timor-Leste. The most important contribution for women's rights was her Handbook containing the Special Guidelines for Victims of Domestic Violence published by the Office of the Prosecutor General of Timor-Leste and adopted as the training manual for police Forces, national prosecutors and the East-Timorese national Special Victims Unit.
During 2001, Dr. Estrada was a Visiting Fellow at the Humanities Research Centre, Australian National University. The research produced by Dr. Estrada during her fellowship: "Australian & Latin American Human Rights Action Plans: Critical and Comparative Analysis" is being used as official material for the first distance learning education course “Human Rights in Action” broadcast by the Spanish- Latin American Educational Television Network, from its Headquarters in Madrid, Spain founded and organised by Dr. Estrada in cooperation with Teleducando an International NGO working on Distance Learning Education, named by UNESCO as the First Peace Broadcast in Latin America. The course is taught in 243 Universities in Latin America. The song “An Ecuadorian Woman” written by Dr. Estrada during her fellowship and performed by the Latin American singer Tanya Lopez, received an Award in the contest “Art defending Women’s Rights” organised by UNIFEM in Santiago de Chile, 2002.
Dr. Estrada has accomplished a significant work on the dissemination and promotion of Human Rights and Culture of Peace Principles from the important positions held throughout her professional career, amongst them:
Minister of Social Welfare of Ecuador, President of the Ecuadorian Supreme Court for Children and Juvenile Justice, Member of the Monitoring Committee of the United Nations Convention for the Elimination of All Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), Regional Adviser on Human Rights and Culture of Peace for UNESCO, Chief of Field of the United Nations Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, for implementing the National Human Rights Action Plans for Ecuador and Latin America, Special Adviser on Human Rights to the Andean Parliament, Special Adviser to the National Congress and to the Ecuadorian Supreme Court on Social, Family, and Human Rights Legislation.
Dr. Estrada is the author of the Ecuadorian Legislation for Minors and Family currently in force in Ecuador.
In the academic field, Dr. Estrada is currently contributing as International Expert with the Raoul Wallenberg Institute for Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, providing training on Human Rights to military, police, and judicial officers, lawyers and NGO’s representatives in Latin America, Europe, Eastern Europe and Asia. Dr. Estrada has worked as the Founding Director of the First Postgraduate Specialization Course on Human Rights of the Postgraduate Institute for International Studies, Faculty of Law, and Central University of Ecuador and as its Human Rights Professor during 12 years. As Special Adviser to UNICEF, Dr. Estrada created the Latin American Curricula for Children Rights, adopted by the Universities of the Region. She has been the Founding Director of the First Human Rights Distance Learning Education Course, Director and Founder Professor of the Lecture “Human Rights and Democracy”, Catholic University of Guayaquil. Founder Professor of the Chair “Human Rights of Women”, University of Guayaquil. Founder Professor of the Lecture “Culture of Peace and non Violence", Faculty of Law, Universidad Central, Quito, and Professor of International Criminal Law at the same University.
Amongst others awards and recognitions, she has received the National Medal of Honour in the Grade of “Caballero” from the National Congress of Ecuador for her contribution to the Construction of a Culture of Human Rights, Social Justice, and Peace in Ecuador. The National Award from the International Latin American Ombudsman Federation for the outstanding support to the promotion and diffusion of Human Rights within South America. The Medal of Honour, from the Andean Parliament for her contribution to the development of Social Justice Policies within the Latin-American Region and the Special Award “UNIVERSIDAD DE GUAYAQUIL” for the most outstanding Doctoral Thesis: “REVOLUTION, ART, AND HUMAN RIGHTS”.
As Journalist and Media activist, she is Member of the Editorial Council of TEVEMAS (Iberoamerican Educational TV Network) and worked for 10 years as its TV Programme Director. Her activities on this field include being editorialist for "El Universo" (the oldest Ecuadorian Journal), host for the TV Weekly Programme “Political Analysis in Ecuador”, host of the TV Weekly Programme: "Building a Culture of Peace", host of the TV Segment "Talking about Your Rights", and Advisor on Human Rights for Women and Family to the Ecuadorian TV Channels and Media for 17 years.
She has written and published 15 books related to Human Rights, Family Law, Women's and Children's Rights, and Political and Social Issues.
Dr. Miriam Estrada-Castillo is currently working as legal and political adviser to the United Nations Counter Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate, monitoring countries from Africa and Middle East belonging to the Civil Legal System in the compliance to the UN Conventions against Terrorism and Human Rights instruments.
