The EUI Human and Fundamental Rights Working Group hosts an event featuring Genesis Davila and Rodrigo Diamanti, two inspiring human rights defenders. The event aims to showcase their work in human rights advocacy and strategic litigation, and to shed light on the severe human rights crisis in Venezuela.
Venezuela has been grappling with a severe human rights crisis, as documented by the United Nations Fact-Finding Mission. Arbitrary detentions, extrajudicial killings, and torture have been rampant, with the government often targeting political opponents and dissenters. This event aims to shed light on these grave violations and the resilience of the Venezuelan people. The session will feature a screening of "Miradas De Memoria", a documentary that delves into the stories of families affected by the 2014 and 2017 protests. Additionally, participants will have the opportunity to experience a virtual reality tour of "El Helicoide," a notorious torture center in Venezuela, developed by survivors of political detentions. The event will conclude with a discussion led by Genesis Davila and Rodrigo Diamante, shedding light on the current human rights situation in Venezuela and the challenges faced by advocates.
About the speakers:
Genesis Davila received her law degree, summa cum laude, from Universidad de Los Andes, in Venezuela, in 2014. She later graduated with an LL.M. in International Legal Studies from NYU, where she was a Fulbright and Hauser scholar. She founded Defiende Venezuela, a pro-bono NGO, in 2017 to represent victims of human rights violations internationally. Genesis has represented over 1,000 victims before various international bodies and has trained more than 2,000 human rights defenders.
Rodrigo Diamanti is a human rights and campaign expert who graduated from Harvard Kennedy School’s MPA program in 2017. Rodrigo founded Un Mundo Sin Mordaza, an international NGO, and has been instrumental in mobilising thousands in defense of democracy and human rights in Latin America. He is a former political prisoner and has been living in exile since 2015. He was awarded the "Medalla de Roma" in 2013 for his global human rights efforts.