Professional Affiliation

Chair, Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela

Expert Bio

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).