The Klau Institute is proud to announce its Rita Bahr Cari Memorial Fund Scholars for 2024-25. The recipients are human rights lawyers from Latin America enrolled in the LL.M. Program in International Human Rights Law. This year's recipients are:

Jorge Hagedorn Gaete (Chile)

Jorge A. Hagedorn is from Viña del Mar, Chile, and graduated from Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile in 2020 with a Bachelor’s degree in Law. In 2021, he was awarded the title of Lawyer by the Supreme Court of Chile. Jorge has served as a Researcher and Head of the Constitutional Area at "IdeaPaís," a Chilean think tank inspired by the social doctrine of the Catholic Church. In 2022, he worked as a Legal Advisor to the Fundamental Rights Commission during Chile's first constitutional drafting process, where he promoted initiatives focused on freedom of speech, religious tolerance, and economic rights. Since 2022, Jorge has been serving as a Legal Advisor to a Chilean Senator, focusing on constitutional reforms, labor law, and social security. He is currently completing his master’s degree in Political Studies at Universidad de Los Andes, for which he was awarded a full scholarship, focusing on political philosophy and human rights theories, expected to finish in December 2024. In August, he is moving to Indiana to join the 2025 International Human Rights Law (LL.M.) cohort at the University of Notre Dame. Jorge eagerly anticipates engaging with distinguished faculty and peers at Notre Dame Law School and applying the knowledge gained to advance human rights initiatives in Chile and globally, fostering better political and judicial dialogue for a more just and cohesive society.

Mónica Elizabeth Nuño Nuño (Mexico)

Mónica Elizabeth Nuño Nuño earned her law degree from the University of Guadalajara in 2016, focusing her dissertation on the principle of non-intervention in the context of the 2011 Libyan conflict. She has served in the Protection and Legal Affairs Department at the Consulate General of Mexico in Houston, Texas, and was the Executive Director of Liaison and International Cooperation at the Inter-American Conference on Social Security from 2019 to July 2021, in Mexico City.

Mónica has also contributed as a research assistant at the Legal Research Institute of the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) and served as a technical assistant for the Mexican Yearbook of International Law, edited by UNAM, for four years. From 2018 to 2020, she taught the law of treaties at the School of Political Science at UNAM. Her academic interests include human rights advocacy, the crisis of enforced disappearances in Mexico, and other serious human rights violations worldwide.

Maria Paula Roncancio (Colombia)

Maria Paula Roncancio is a Colombian attorney specializing in international law from Universidad de La Sabana, where she is also a candidate for a Master's degree in International Law with a scholarship for academic excellence. She is passionate about international human rights law, which has enabled her to work on litigation in high-impact cases involving the protection of life and religious freedom before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights and the Constitutional Court of Colombia, as well as publish in the Latin American Journal of Law and Religion of the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile. Maria is particularly interested in the Inter-American system due to its significant influence in Latin America. Before this program, she was selected for an internship at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights in the Special Rapporteurship for Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights.

Maria aspires to further her education in these fields of law, grow holistically, and advance her professional career to serve individuals and uphold human dignity.

André Uliano (Brazil)

André Uliano is a Federal Prosecutor in Brazil. He earned two Master’s Degrees, one in Economics and another in Law. Previously, he attended the University of Oxford as a Visiting Recognised Student and the results of his research there have been published as a book on Judicial Activism.

André is currently a PhD Candidate at the University of São Paulo, where he is studying the role of the Legislative Power in interpreting and protecting human rights. His academic focus lies in Constitutional Law and Jurisprudence, subjects he has taught in Brazil. André’s interest in Constitutional Law stems from its close interaction with international human rights, while his engagement with Jurisprudence is driven by its role in providing the moral foundations for human rights law and legal reasoning.

André is also passionate about sports and humanities, especially philosophy, history and literature.

Joseph Cari endowed the Rita Bahr Cari Memorial Fund in 2001, with additional donations, to encourage advanced studies in international human rights law. The fund provides opportunities to students from Latin America who wish to study at Notre Dame by assisting with living expenses.

Originally published by Kevin Fye at klau.nd.edu on September 24, 2024.