José Miguel Vivanco

Adjunct Senior Fellow for Human Rights

Browse My Work
Profile picture

Expert Bio

José Miguel Vivanco is an adjunct senior fellow for human rights at the Council on Foreign Relations (CFR). He has extensive experience defending democracy and human rights, as well as promoting the rule of law.

Vivanco was formerly the executive director of the Americas division at Human Rights Watch, where he supervised fact-finding research for numerous reports on gross violations of human rights and advocated strengthening international legal standards and domestic compliance throughout the region. As the chief strategist for the Americas division, he managed a multi-disciplinary team, ensuring due diligence, rigorous, objective reporting, and active engagement with members in the U.S. Congress and governments around the world. 

Vivanco is also the founder of the Center for Justice and International Law, an international civil society organization providing legal and technical assistance within the Inter-American human rights system.

Vivanco has supervised investigations in coordination with international agencies, governments, private sector, academia, and civil society organizations. He regularly meet heads of state and ministers in Latin America, United States, and Europe and provides testimony before international organizations and domestic institutions.

Vivanco has a JD from the University of Chile Law School, a JD from Salamanca Law School, and a LLM from Harvard Law School.

Media Inquiries

For media inquiries, please contact [email protected].
Clear All
Regions
Topics
Type

More CFR Experts

See all Experts

Explore More on Human Rights

India

India’s Muslims: An Increasingly Marginalized Population
India’s Muslim communities have faced decades of discrimination, which experts say has worsened under the Hindu nationalist BJP’s government.

Backgrounder by Lindsay Maizland March 18, 2024

United Kingdom

Moving Past the Troubles: The Future of Northern Ireland Peace
The Good Friday Agreement has dampened sectarian conflict and brought stability to Northern Ireland, but the peace deal has been challenged by Brexit-related border tensions that have thrown the region’s hard-won gains into doubt.

Backgrounder by Charles Landow and James McBride February 16, 2024

LGBTQ+

Africa’s Struggle Toward Inclusive LGBTQ+ Laws
Countries in Africa have some of the harshest and most discriminatory LGBTQ+ policies in the world. But some governments are taking hopeful steps toward inclusion.

Article by Mariel Ferragamo and Kali Robinson June 13, 2023

Top Stories on CFR

Energy and Climate Policy

The Dirty Energy Powering AI

Podcast
What powers artificial intelligence (AI)? As global electricity use is surging, with unprecedented demand coming from an increase in data centers, AI’s dependence on fossil fuels presents a serious issue for the planet. In the United States, data center power usage is on track to double by 2030, largely due to the proliferation of AI technology. But while the application of AI shows potential to mitigate climate problems through modeling or predicting weather events, will its power grab stall the clean energy transition?

Podcast with Gabrielle Sierra and Varun Sivaram December 3, 2024 Why It Matters

South Korea

Martial Law in South Korea
Yoon Suk-Yeol’s shocking declaration of ‘emergency martial law’ was a frontal assault on the integrity of South Korea’s hard-won democratic system.

Blog Post by John Delury December 4, 2024 Asia Unbound

Lebanon

What’s Happening in Lebanon? A Guide to the War-Torn Democracy
An array of domestic and foreign powers are vying for influence in Lebanon, including the Lebanese Armed Forces, Hezbollah, Israel, Iran, Syria, and the United States.

Backgrounder by Jonathan Masters December 3, 2024