Through action-research, my work responds to practitioners’ needs. Partnerships amongst equals to produce a practical impact for human rights improvements.
For over 7 years I have had the opportunity to work closely with international organisations, NGOs in Argentina and Colombia, public prosecutors in Latin America and several state entities in Colombia, to support their work on accountability and peace building.
Policy impact
- Our findings on corporate complicity with past abuses in Latin America, was cited in the 2020 report “Empresas y Derechos Humanos: Estándares Interamericanos” from the Special Rapporteurship on Economic, Social, Cultural, and Environmental Rights (ESCER). The report is available at https://www.oas.org/es/cidh/informes/pdfs/EmpresasDDHH.pdf
- Together with academics from the University of Oxford, we presented an Amicus Curiae to the Constitutional Court, regarding the competence of the Special Jurisdiction for Peace to put economic actors on trial.
- Participated in the group advising the Colombian Truth Commission on the design of the methodology to investigate corporate complicity with the armed conflict.
- Our work contributed to the creation of a set of Guidelines for prosecutors in Latin America to investigate the role of economic actors in past atrocities.
Entrevistas
“Colombia ha liderado debates regulatorios sobre empresas y DD HH”
24 de enero del 2020
En los últimos años, se han dado una serie de discusiones en el mundo sobre el rol de las empresas en el respeto, la protección y la garantía de los derechos humanos (DD HH). Esos debates han evolucionado, hasta el punto de que hoy existe un borrador de tratado internacional sobre empresas y DD HH en discusión en Naciones Unidas.
Los cambios en este espacio regulatorio hacen que empresas y Estados deban buscar ajustarse a estos nuevos marcos. Laura Bernal Bermúdez, consultora experta de la Universidad de Oxford, conversó sobre la importancia del tema de empresas y DD HH para la operación actual de estas en Colombia.
Women in Science – One voice for Equality
2008 – 2012
My contribution on motherhood and academia, part of an amazing campaign to highlight the role of women in science.
Conferences and Presentations
- Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability from Below: Deploying Archimedes’ Lever, Law and Society Association 2019 Annual Meeting (Washington DC., United States) (May 30 – June 2, 2019).
- Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability from Below: Deploying Archimedes’ Lever, XXXVII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (Boston, United States) (May 24 – 27, 2019).
- Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability in Colombia, First Latin American Congress on Business and Human Rights, Pontificia Universidad Javeriana (Bogotá, Colombia) (May 3, 2019).
- Setting the stage for Justice: an agency approach to access to Justice for cases of Corporate complicity with grave human Rights violations, University of Denver (April 23, 2019).
- Transitional Justice and Corporate Accountability in Colombia, XXXVI International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (Barcelona, Spain) (May 23 – 26, 2018).
- Setting the stage for Justice: an agency approach to access to Justice for cases of Corporate complicity with grave human Rights violations. Foro de Derechos Humanos, Empresa y Clínicas Jurídicas. Universidad ICESI (Cali, Colombia) (May 3, 2018).
- Construyendo Memoria Empresarial del Conflicto y la Paz (“Building Business Memory in Conflict and Peace), Conversatorio Centro de Memoria Histórica, Feria del Libro (Bogotá, Colombia) (May 1, 2018).
- Los Empresarios en la Guerra: Verdad Judicial sobre la Complicidad Empresarial en Colombia (“Businesspeople in War: Judicial Truth about Corporate Complicity in Colombia) Launch of the report “Cuentas Claras” – Dejusticia and University of Oxford (Bogotá, Colombia) (March 1, 2018).
- The Business of Human Rights, Seminario de Derecho Internacional, Universidad de Los Andes (Bogotá, Colombia) (February 28, 2018).
- Seminar series ‘Locating Criminal Accountability in International and Transnational law’, Transnational Law Institute, Kings College (London, UK) (October 30, 2017).
- Limits of Transitional Justice: Post-transition Disappearances and Impunity for Business Human Rights Violations, St. Antony’s College. University of Oxford (Oxford, UK) (October 28, 2017).
- From Conflict to Peace: Business Accountability in the Context of Transition in Colombia, XXXV International Congress of the Latin American Studies Association (Lima, Perú) (April 29 – May 1, 2017).
- Seminário Internacional sobre Violência de Estado, Universidade Federal de Sao Paulo (Sao Paulo, Brazil) (March 30, 2017).
- Corporate Complicity in Colombia: Exploring Accountability and Remedy Mechanisms, XXXIII International Congress of the Latin American Studies Associations (San Juan, Puerto Rico) (May 27-30, 2015).
Laura Bernal-Bermúdez 