Dr. Clara Burbano-Herrera

Clara Burbano-Herrera, PhD in Law (Ghent University), LL.M. in Fundamental Rights (University Carlos III of Madrid), Postgraduate Degree in Constitutional Law (National University of Colombia), and Master in Law (University of Los Andes) is an associated postdoctoral research fellow. Before she was a Fulbright Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the François-Xavier Bagnoud Center for Health and Human Rights (Harvard University) and a Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research Foundation – Flanders at the Human Rights Centre of Ghent University, where she also teached ‘Human Rights in Developing Countries’.

She has been a Fellow at the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (Washington DC, USA), the Inter-American Court of Human Rights (San José, Costa Rica) and the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (Banjul, The Gambia). Before joining Ghent University, she was a professor on Constitutional Law and Democracy at the Universidad de Los Andes (Bogota, Colombia).

She co-hosts a Blog on Top International Human Rights Courses, Traineeships & Jobs in Europe. Her research interests concern the Inter-American, the European and the African System of Human Rights, and especially the instrument of the interim measures, a topic on which she has published and lectured widely.

She is, inter alia, the author of Clara Burbano Herrera, Provisional Measures in the Case Law of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, Antwerp/Oxford/Portland, Intersentia Publishers, 2010, 227p. and Medidas Provisionales and Situaciones de Vida o Muerte, Mexico DF, Porrua Publishers, 2012, 282p., and has (co)authored Clara Burbano Herrera and Yves Haeck, “Staying the Return of Aliens from Europe through Interim Measures: The Case-law of the European Commission and the European Court of Human Rights”, 13 European Journal of Migration and Law (2011), pp. 31-51 and Clara Burbano Herrera and Yves Haeck, “Letting States off the Hook? The Paradox of the Legal Consequences following State Non-compliance with Provisional Measures in the Inter-American and European Human Rights Systems”, Netherlands Quarterly of Human Rights 28 (2010/3), pp. 332-360.

• Postdoctoral Research Fellow, François-Xavier Bagnoud (FXB) Center for Health and Human Rights, Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA (August 2014 – present)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO) at Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium (2012 – 2016, on leave between August 2014 and August 2015)
• Visiting Scholar, University of Pretoria, Centre for Human Rights, South Africa (May – June 2012)
• Visiting Professional Fellow, African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, Banjul, The Gambia (October 2011)
• External Supervisor, Conflict, Human Rights & Criminal Justice Clinical Programme, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands (2009 – 2012)
• Postdoctoral Research Fellow of the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium, and Senior Research Fellow at Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium (2009 – 2012)
• Visiting Professional Fellow, Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, Washington DC, USA (November – December 2010)
• Visiting Scholar Washington College of Law, Washington DC, USA (November – December 2010)
• Visiting Research Fellow, Inter-American Court of Human Rights, San José, Costa Rica (October 2008 – January 2009)
• Researcher, Ghent University, Ghent, Belgium (2004 – 2008/2009)
• Professor Course of Constitution and Democracy, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (2001 – 2004)
• Professor Course of Constitutional Law, Agrarian University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia (2004)
• Researcher (part time) on Project “Information on Rights of Vulnerable Groups”, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (2003)
• Visiting Professor of Constitutional Law, ICESI University, Cali, Colombia (2001 – 2002)
• Legal Adviser and Presenter in an Educative TV Programme “Paz las que sea” (Peace it should be) concerning Human Rights at the National Colombian Television following a cooperation agreement between the University of Los Andes & the Office of the National Ombudsman, Bogotá, Colombia (2002)
• Researcher in the Project “Legal Education in Human Rights and Humanitarian Law in Colombian Law Faculties”, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (2002)
• Researcher (part time) in the Project “The Collection Systematizing and Analysis of the Jurisprudence of the Rights to a Minimum of Existence”, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (2001)
• Assistant Course on Property Law, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (2001)
• Assistant Course of Administrative Law, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia (1999)

University Degrees

• Doctor in Law, Ghent University, Belgium, 2009 (Ghent University does not award grades)
• Postgraduate in Constitutional Law, National University of Colombia, Bogotá, Colombia, 2004 (summa cum laude and first of the class)
• LL.M. in Fundamental Rights, University Carlos III of Madrid, Spain, 2003 (magna cum laude)
• Licentiate in Law/Master of Laws, University of Los Andes, Bogotá, Colombia, 2001 (magna cum laude)

Additional (inter)national (human rights) courses taken

• Intensive Course on Socio-Economic Rights: Sexual and Reproductive Rights Litigation, Harvard University, Boston, USA, October 2014
• Global School Course on Health Rights Litigation, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA, September 2013
• Intensive Course on Health and Human Rights: Concepts, Implementation, and Impact, Harvard School of Public Health, Harvard University, Boston, USA, June 2013
• Sexual Minority Rights Course, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria, Pretoria, South Africa, February 2012
• International Human Rights Academy, University of the Western Cape, Cape Town, South Africa, October 2005
• Summer Course on The Protection of the Children’s Rights, University of Extremadura, Caceres Spain, 2003
• Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Washington College of Law, American University, Washington, USA, 2001

• Health and Human Rights (Harvard University) (2015).
• The African Human Rights System from a Comparative Perspective (University of Pretoria) (2012 – present)
• Human Rights in Developing Countries (2009 – present; not in 2014 – 2015 due to leave of absence)
• International Human Rights Moot Court (2009 – present, not in 2014 – 2015 due to leave of absence)

Scientific Prizes

• Prins Bernhard Prize 2008, Foundation “The Spanish, Portuguese and Latin American Institute”, for innovative research to encourage young, promising scientists, awarded in The Hague, The Netherlands, on January 2009 by Prince Carlos de Bourbon the Parme, grandson of the late Prince Bernhard.
• Prize for Academic Merit and High Personal Qualities during the Law Studies awarded by the Lucía Patiño Osorio Foundation, Bogota, Colombia, 2000.
• Prize for Academic Merit and High Personal Qualities during the Law Studies awarded by the Lucía Patiño Osorio Foundation, Bogota, Colombia, 1999.

Scientific Scholarships / Scientific Grants

• Fulbright Scholarship for Research at Harvard University from Fulbright / Belgium (Augustus 2014 – Augustus 2015)
• Nominated by the Belgian Fulbright Committee for the Frank Boas Scholarship for Graduate or Postdoctoral Studies at Harvard University (December 2013)
• Scientific Travel Grant for Research at Harvard University (August 2014-July 2015), from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium (2014)
• Scientific Grant (renewal) for Postdoctoral Research at Ghent University, from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium (2012 – 2015)
• Scholarship for participation in the “Global School Course on Health Rights Litigation” from the Program on the Health Rights of Women and Children, Harvard University, Boston, USA (September 2013)
• Scientific Grant for Post-doctoral Research at Ghent University, from the Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium (2009 – 2012)
• Scientific Travel Grant for Research at the University of Pretoria (March-April 2012) Research Foundation Flanders (FWO), Brussels, Belgium (2012)
• Scholarship for the “International Human Rights Course” from the International Human Rights Academy (IHRA), Cape Town, South Africa (2005)
• Scholarship for the “Protection of the Children’s Rights Course” from the University of Extremadura (Spain), Extremadura, Spain (2003)
• Partial Scholarship for the LLM in Fundamental Rights in the University Carlos III of Madrid (Spain), from the Banco Santander, Spain (2003)
• Travel Grant to attend the Summer Human Rights Course at American University (May–June 2001) from Justice Program USAID/MSD Washington DC, USA (2001)
• Research Scholarship of Colciencias (comparable research foundation as Research Foundation Flanders) in the ambit of the Programme ‘Formation for young Researchers’, Bogota, Colombia (2001)

Membership of (inter)national scholarly committees

• Member of the Collaborative Research Network (CRN) on Economic and Social Rights” with the “Law and Society Association” (LSA) (2014 – present)
• Executive Committee Member of the International Network “The Inter-American Human Rights System: Assessing its Development and Impact”, a Research Network of 7 universities from Latin America, North America and Europe, London, UK (2014 – 2016)
• Co-founder and Member of the “Latin American & European Human Rights Network (LAEHR)”, a Research Network of 16 universities from Latin America, North America and Europe, Europe/Latin America (2005 – 2010)

Membership of editorial boards of scientific journals

• Member of the Scientific Committee of the Law journal ‘State of Law’ (Derecho del Estado), Externado University of Colombia, Bogota, Colombia (2014 – present)
• Member of the Scientific Committee of the Online Law Journal “Revista Virtual Via Inveniendi ‘Camino del Hallazgo y el Juicio’”, Research Center Francisco de Vitoria – Santo Tomás University, Bogotá, Colombia (2007 – present)
• Co-founder and Executive Editor “Inter-American & European Human Rights Journal/Revista Interamericana & Europea de Derechos Humanos”, Intersentia Publishers, Antwerp/Oxford (2006 – present)

Activities as peer reviewer

• Occasional peer reviewer for various international publishing houses/international academic journals (2000 – present)
• External reviewer in the ambit of the award of the ‘Prize for Development Cooperation’ (‘Prijs voor Ontwikkelingssamenwerking’), awarded by the Belgian Federal Ministry of Development Affairs with regard to Master theses, Brussels – Belgium (2009)

• Regional Human Rights Systems
• Interim or Provisional Measures in International Human Rights Law
• Women’s Rights