Alumni Spotlight: Ximena Medellín '07
Center for Civil and Human Rights
It’s not often that a transplant from a major metropolitan city—especially one in a warm clime—thinks South Bend is an ideal destination. “It’s nice to take a break from the big city,” explains Ximena Medellín of Mexico City, Mexico, a postdoctoral research associate in the Law School’s Center for Civil and Human Rights (CCHR). “I would spend three hours in the car getting to and from work each day. Now, it takes eight minutes,” she says with a contented smile.
Medellín gives the impression that she could be happy just about anywhere as long as she is doing the work she loves—human rights law. She chose Notre Dame to pursue her LL.M. in International Human Rights Law because “it was very clear that Notre Dame valued me as an individual. I got calls from Sean [O’Brien, CCHR assistant director], and he could converse with me about the work I was doing. It was important for me to be recognized and appreciated for my scholarship.”
Medellín earned a Licentiate in Law from the Universidad Iberoamericana in Mexico City in 2004, and her LL.M. from Notre Dame Law School in 2007. Before pursuing her law degree at Notre Dame, she was an associate professor of human rights law at the Universidad Iberoamericana. In addition to teaching, she was a full-time researcher at the Human Rights Program of the Universidad, leading their International Criminal Justice and International Humanitarian Law Programs.
Currently, Medellín is the lead researcher on a book commissioned by the Due Process of Law Foundation and the United States Institute for Peace titled Compiling Latin American National Jurisprudence on International Crimes. A number of Notre Dame LL.M. students are assisting Medellín in her research and contributing to the project. “Through this research, the CCHR joins a concrete effort to strengthen national judicial systems around Latin America, which is one of the most effective tools for fighting crimes against humanity and ensuring the protection of human beings,” she says.
In addition to her research, Medellín is responsible for advising LL.M. students. “I am devoted to helping them in any way, whether advising them on their thesis or offering help networking, getting an internship or a job, etc.,” she says. “It has come full circle for me, and I want to give the same level of attention to my students as my advisor gave to me.”
Medellín comes by her work naturally. “When I was 11 years old, I told my parents that I wanted to be a lawyer,” she says. “They said, ‘sure, sure, we’ll talk about that later,’ as if it was just something kids say,” she recalls with a laugh. “But I believe we are born as lawyers,” says Medellin of those who choose the profession. “It is demanding on so many different levels, but it’s in our blood and we have to pursue it.”
Growing up, Medellín says she had a privileged education and a great deal of family support, but learned through her parents that others had much less. “My dad and mom have devoted their life to working with people in rural communities outside of Mexico City who were struggling to make ends meet,” says Medellín. “I joined them on their trips to these communities as a child, and it impacted me.”
Professionally, Medellín has consulted for the Mexican government on a report regarding the status of civil and political rights in Mexico, to be presented before the United Nations Human Rights Committee in Geneva. She has also had the opportunity to closely collaborate with international institutions such as the International Committee of the Red Cross, and has trained academics, journalists, diplomats and military personnel in International Criminal Justice.
In addition, Medellín has worked directly with victims of human rights violations in Latin America. Particularly significant was her participation on the legal team advising Argentinean victims of a military dictatorship in the 1970s and 1980s. The case resulted in the first-ever successful extradition of a military official to stand trial based on the legal principle of universal jurisdiction.
Her overarching areas of interest include international criminal justice, humanitarian law, the Inter-American System for the protection of human rights, national implementation of human rights, and national cooperation with international bodies. “Last October, I went to Washington, D.C., with NDLS Professor Paolo Carozza for a meeting of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, and there were seven generations of Notre Dame LL.M.s there, working in various capacities for the Commission. It was amazing and impressive,” says Medellín.
“There are lots of great LL.M. programs out there, but I am convinced that this is the only one which, after you graduate, you really feel like you belong to something important—a large family…an important mission,” says Medellín.
