Cecilia Jimenez Damary

Cecilia Jimenez-Damary (Philippines) was appointed Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons by the Human Rights Council in September 2016 and assumed the mandate on 1 November 2016. 

Ms. Jimenez-Damary is a lawyer in human rights and international humanitarian law specialised in forced displacement and migration. She has over three decades of experience in NGO human rights advocacy for the Asia-Pacific region and teaching experience as an adjunct professor of international human rights and humanitarian law. Ms. Jimenez-Damary previously acted as Senior Legal Adviser and Trainer with the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC) in Geneva; as the National Director of the IDP Project of the Commission on Human Rights of the Philippines; and as the government representative to the Philippine Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission for the Bangsamoro. 

Ms. Jimenez-Damary holds an LL.M. in Public International Law from King’s College London, UK; an MDC in International Organizations-MBA from the University of Geneva, Switzerland; an LL.B. from Ateneo de Manila, Philippines; and a B.Sc. in Foreign Service from the University of the Philippines. She was admitted to the Integrated Bar of the Philippines in 1990.