Carmen Maria Argibay

Judge, professor, attorney, lecturer and human rights advocate, Carmen Argibay has been a force in her native Argentina and an influence in the international community. Early in her career, she was a victim of a military coup that removed her from the court in and detained her for nine months without charges in the mid-1970s. She survived the regime, returned to private practice and later to the court, and in 2004 she became the first woman nominated to the Supreme Court of Argentina. She was founder of the Argentine Association of Women Judges and has served as president of the International Association of Women Judges and the Foundation of Women Judges.

She has held several teaching and advisory posts at the University of Buenos Aires and has lectured at the Universities of Belgrano and El Salvador. She served as a judge on the landmark 2000 Tokyo Tribunal, which found the Japenese armed forces responsible for sexual slavery imposed on countries they invaded during World War II, and also served as ad litem judge to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.