Luisa Gomez Betancur

Senior Attorney, People, Land & Resources Program

Luisa Fernanda Gómez Betancur (she/her) is a Senior Attorney in CIEL’s People, Land, and Resources Program. She is a Colombian human rights lawyer with relevant experience in constitutional law and transitional justice. She has worked with civil society organizations, academia, and judicial institutions advancing justice for victims of human rights violations and environmental harm.

For over six years, she worked at the Colombian Constitutional Court, providing legal advice on a number of issues, such as land restitution, the right to remedy for victims of armed conflict and environmental harm, public participation and decision-making around extractive industries, and the right to prior consultation of Indigenous peoples. She participated in cases related to the environmental impacts of coal mining in the territory of Wayúu Indigenous communities in La Guajira, Colombia. In this context, she facilitated participatory spaces between community leaders, environmental experts, civil society organizations, and public institutions. She also provided support in the judicial review of the constitutional amendments that set up the Comprehensive System of Truth, Justice, Reparation, and Non-Repetition in Colombia.

She has served as a researcher for the Essex Transitional Justice Network and a Brain Trust Member of the Corporate Accountability Lab. During her time as a visiting professional in the Victims Participation and Reparation Section at the International Criminal Court (ICC), she supported the design and implementation of strategies to facilitate victim participation in the ICC procedures and access to reparations, focusing on the situations and cases in Sudan and Uganda. Most recently, she was a consultant for the Inter-American Commission of Human Rights and the American Bar Association on topics related to human rights defenders in Nicaragua and Colombia.

She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Law from Universidad de Caldas and a Specialization degree in Constitutional Law from Universidad Nacional, both in Colombia. She was awarded the Hans Wilsdorf Foundation scholarship and graduated magna cum laude from the Geneva Academy with a Master of Advanced Studies in Transitional Justice, Human Rights, and the Rule of Law.

When not working, she devotes her time to dancing contemporary jazz and ballet.

Luisa can be reached at lgomez@ciel.org and tweets at @viejadeambiente

Connect with her on LinkedIn.