Biographies

Ms. Sofía Macher, Chair (Peru) 

Ms. Batanero is a human rights defender and sociologist with more than 30 years of experience in transitional justice, reparations, and gender issues. She has investigated human rights violations, designed national reparations programmes, and advised truth commissions and United Nations mechanisms. With a PhD and Master’s in Sociology and Gender Studies from the Pontifical Catholic University of Peru, Ms. Macher Batanero has contributed to international initiatives with the Organization of American States, the United Nations Development Programme and UN Women, and has served in leadership roles for truth commissions in Libya, Yemen, Colombia and the Solomon Islands. In Peru, Ms. Macher Batanero has held prominent public positions shaping memory and reparations policies, including as president of the Reparations Council and commissioner of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

Mr. Alex Neve (Canada)

Mr. Neve is a visiting and adjunct professor in international human rights law at the University of Ottawa and Dalhousie University, and a Senior Fellow with the University of Ottawa’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs. He served as Secretary-General of Amnesty International Canada from 2000-2020. Mr. Neve has taken part in more than 40 human rights investigative missions around the world and in Canada. Mr. Neve has also served as a member of the Immigration and Refugee Board of Canada, taught at Osgoode Hall Law School, been affiliated with York University's Centre for Refugee Studies, and worked as a refugee lawyer in private practice and in a community legal aid clinic. Mr. Neve is an Officer of the Order of Canada and was also the 2025 CBC Massey Lecturer, addressing the theme of “Renewing Human Rights in a Fractured World” in five nationwide lectures and an associated book. Mr. Neve holds an LL.B. from Dalhousie University and a master’s degree in International Human Rights Law from the University of Essex.

Ms. María Eloísa Quintero (Argentina/Mexico)

Ms. Quintero holds a doctorate in Law from Austral University and a law degree from the National University of the Litoral, Argentina. She is an expert in investigating complex cases, with over 25 years of experience as a researcher and professor in various Latin American countries. She has led technical and academic teams dedicated to the multidisciplinary analysis of serious human rights violations and criminal cases related to organized crime, corruption, enforced disappearance, human trafficking, migration, money laundering and other issues. She has recently worked in Mexico, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Colombia, where she has collaborated closely with authorities, international organizations, and civil society. She was a principal investigator at the National Institute of Criminal Sciences (INACIPE) for over 10 years and Head of the Investigation and Litigation Department of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG) from 2017 until its closure, leading more than 60 criminal investigations against high-ranking officials, illicit political and economic networks, and illegal bodies and clandestine security apparatuses. She has been a consultant for several institutions. She collaborated for many years with the Foundation for Justice and the Democratic Rule of Law (FJEDD). She completed several pre-doctoral research stays at the University of Bonn, Germany, and at the Universities of Seville, Castilla-La Mancha and Barcelona, Spain. She is the author of several articles and books. Currently, she is the founder and co-director of PANORÁMICA (International Center of Experts in Research and Analysis of Complex Cases), and a professor at the Pan-American University in Mexico and other Latin American institutions.

Former members

Mr. Francisco Cox Vial (Chile)

Mr. Cox Vial is a prominent criminal lawyer. He was a member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts (GIEI) appointed by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Government of President Enrique Peña Nieto to investigate the case of the 43 missing students in Ayotzinapa (Mexico). Mr. Cox litigated before the International Criminal Court, including in the case against Dominic Ongwen, in which Mr. Cox represented 2605 victims of the armed conflict in northern Uganda. He was part of the panel of five world experts that advised the Executive Committee of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court to elect the next Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court. Mr. Cox studied law at Diego Portales University and then obtained a Master's Degree (LL.M) from Columbia University.

Mr. Paul Seils (United Kingdom)

Mr. Seils is currently the Director of Peace Practice and Innovation at the European Institute of Peace. He began his professional career as a criminal defence lawyer in his native Scotland where he also served as Legal Director of the Scottish Refugee Council. He has held various senior international posts including Head of Situation Analysis in the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court from 2004-2008, the Analysis Chief in the International Commission Against Impunity in Guatemala; Head of the Rule of Law and Democracy Unit (a.i.) in the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights; and Vice President of the International Center for Transitional Justice from 2011-2017. He lived and worked for five years in Guatemala City, designing and directing investigations into the crimes and human rights violations committed during the civil war there. He has written widely on human rights, criminal justice and transitional justice. He taught for several years on the Advanced LL.M at Leiden University, Netherlands, and is currently a Visiting Professor at the University of St Andrews, Scotland.

Ms. Patricia Tappatá Valdez (Argentina)

Ms. Patricia Tappatá Valdez is a human rights advocate who was latterly a member of the Interdisciplinary Group of Independent Experts for Bolivia created by the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights and the Government of Bolivia. Before this she was the Director of the International Centre for the Promotion of Human Rights based in Buenos Aires, Argentina. From 1992 to 1993, she was the Director of the United Nations Truth Commission for El Salvador and headed the Human Rights Department of the National Conference of Bishops of Peru. Since 2010, she has also been a member of the Faculty of Law at the University of Buenos Aires. Furthermore, she is one of the founding members of the International Coalition of Sites of Conscience and currently serves on its Advisory Committee. Until 2012 she was on the board of the Centro de Estudios Legales y Sociales in Argentina. She was also a member of the Management Council of Memorial Park and Monuments to the Victims of State Terrorism and served on the board of trustees of the Institute for Democracy in South Africa. She holds a degree from the Universidad Nacional de Córdoba and completed her postgraduate studies at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales in Buenos Aires.

Ms. Marta Valiñas (Portugal)

Ms. Valiñas is a human rights and legal professional, who has been specializing on international criminal justice and, more specifically, on sexual and gender-based crimes. Most recently, she worked in one of the investigation teams at the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (2014-2019). Prior to that, she worked as a legal adviser, both in non-governmental organizations, such as REDRESS (2009) and the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (2013/2014), and in the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina (2009-2013). She has consulted for various organizations, including UNICEF-IRC, UN Women, ICTJ, the OSCE Gender Section, and various times for Justice Rapid Response. In this quality, she has recently trained and mentored legal professionals in domestic jurisdictions such as Guatemala and Colombia (2017 and 2019). Ms. Valiñas holds a graduate degree in Law from the University of Porto and a Master’s Degree in Human Rights and Democratization (E.MA). She has also been an academic researcher at the University of Leuven on transitional justice (2004-2008).