 I grew up in Peru in the 70s and so there was a lot of social movements at that time in Peru and also a lot of ricochet from the beginning of the dictatorship in Chile. So I was kind of very aware of the injustices that were leading to those social movements in South America. And from when I was very small I participated in certain protest marches with my father who was Peruvian. So I think I was very aware of rights and the need to protest and claim rights from a very young age. We moved to the UK when I was seven years old. I always had in mind that you can mobilize to change things. So I remember organizing my first strike at school at about age of 10. And this was so that girls could also play football because it was only reserved for boys at the time in the school in the UK that I was going to. So you know, it just was something natural for me. And I started kind of getting into the human rights issues through migrant rights issues on accompanying migrant communities in Switzerland when I was studying here and then from then on, you know, different issues, went back to Latin America and worked in Guatemala in the peacekeeping operation as a UNB and then kind of got into things. And I've worked with, you know, NGOs, I've worked with the UN in various locations in Ivory Coast in Cambodia and currently in Colombia. But I've also covered African countries from the eastern Southern Africa region. So I think, you know, the claim for rights is a universal claim and a universal aspiration. I'm very interested in those movements for change. And I suppose what inspires me in my career is always thinking about the women's movement and how much women have achieved in a few generations just by claiming their rights and rejecting the social order. And the fact that women have done that, not only changing legislation, but changing social narratives, changing the relationship of power that they have in society is interesting to me and it's a model for the whole human rights movement and the way we do things. This isn't just about institutional change. It's not just about legislative change. It's about empowering yourself. It's about survivors realizing their strength and how they've overcome human rights violations or how they survive with their experiences and everything that they bring to the table. So I'm very inspired by how people who have been affected by human rights violations have been the engines of such important change. And I really think that's where the wealth of the human rights movement and doctrine comes from, from, you know, women in Latin America going onto the streets fighting for the children that were disappeared and that they no longer have for their grandchildren changing international, you know, norms to be able to denounce disappearances in their own country. The UN Human Rights Office has a very strong voice and needs to use that voice to accompany human rights struggles and populations that are involved in human rights struggles. I think, you know, it's our duty to be part of the human rights movement and to give credence to the voices of victims, of survivors, the demands that they are formulating for human rights. So for me, you know, our role is to walk alongside these movements to advocate for the, for the defense of human rights. So to advocate for human rights defenders and what they are trying to promote in terms of change and to show that those struggles are legitimate struggles. To show that the injustices that they're trying to expose should be addressed. To show that it is legitimate to expose those abuses or injustices and that the obligation always lies with the state to redress those injustices and to guarantee rights. So for me, protection is, is everything in a way. It's really, you know, playing our part in those struggles and making sure that people don't feel alone in those struggles because often those struggles emerge in contexts where they are disempowered or where there where, you know, other powerful forces are trying to limit their rights. In Colombia, there was a period of time during the conflict where the military killed civilians and presented them as if they were members of insurgent groups. And, you know, this happened over a long period of time because the military had been given targets of insurgents that they had to kill. And many civilians died in the hands of military and we documented those cases alongside civil society and advocated about these cases. And today, now in Colombia, after the peace agreement was signed, the transitional court that was set up, the transitional jurisdiction that was set up to try the crimes of the past has now opened the case that looks at these cases of killings. And, you know, we have worked with civil society groups and with victims in helping them to present the reports of the cases that they documented, the cases of their family members who were executed. And this is something that is currently being investigated in Colombia. And we've participated also in efforts where public hearings have taken place to listen to victims' families and to listen also to those who were responsible, some of those who were responsible for committing those crimes who have admitted responsibility. So, you know, we've played an important role accompanying victims over several decades who were making these claims and now also in their attempts to obtain justice, but also in helping the court itself set up its procedures and set up the working methods to relate to victims and so and how to, you know, integrate fair trial standards into their procedures. Some military officials have recognized their responsibility and one particular official was very honest about his participation in these killings and spoke directly to the victims about how they had taken innocent people who believed in the military institution and, you know, the military pretended that they were offering them jobs and the people left, you know, individuals, guys that went with them and how they had tricked them knowing that they were going to execute them and later present them as if they were, as if they were, you know, insurgents. So, you know, one military officer told that directly and said that he couldn't, you know, live with himself knowing what he had done and, you know, God would be his judge of what he had done, but in this life he needed to tell the truth about how he had committed these crimes. It was a very strong and emotional testimony because very few military have done that in Colombia. I think, you know, victims are hopeful that other military officers will be as courageous as him in doing that. Generally, post-conflict situations and these kinds of transitions are not straightforward or easy transitions. Generally, there's also a need to kind of promote healing and transformation. So it's very important for the UN to be involved in, you know, helping show the way forward. What is a rights-based approach? What are we walking towards as an ideal scenario? What does it mean to protect indigenous people's rights? What are their rights and how do you do that? You know, many countries that have been affected by war haven't been used to working within a rule of law framework and so, you know, helping a country take those steps towards a situation where the rule of law is protected and, you know, citizens have rights and are able to claim those rights is, you know, it's a tricky process. So I think it's very important to be present in those transitions because it's not always a done deal. It's a big effort and it's a big effort that, you know, works across society, from civil society, the population itself, state institutions that need to learn to do things differently, but even, you know, the private sector and it's about how that society adapts to a new type of relationship of, you know, the state and its citizens. For each victim, there is a notion of what justice means to them and I think we have to respect that each victim has their own notion of what is justice and what reparation means to her. And so I expect that, you know, some transitional justice mechanisms will provide justice to some people, but not everybody will identify with that and maybe their struggles will continue. And I think it's our duty to accompany people in those struggles, you know, whether they are satisfied by one truth commission or one tribunal or whether they are longer struggles that have to do, you know, with other forms of justice. I think we need to listen to victims and understand what justice means to them and understand that that may be varied and that there's no single, you know, road to healing. In every aspect of life, there are opportunities to defend human rights, whether, we were talking earlier, whether it's in the school, you know, in the face of bullying or discrimination or, you know, in any space really human rights always starts at home, whether it's the way we raise our children so that little girls are equal in the family and feel that they can have their full aspirations, you know, or, you know, whether it is defending LGBTI rights. I think, you know, there are so many spaces in which we can do the right thing and protect human rights and raise our voice in our own personal way and whatever it is meaningful for us. So I think, you know, the door is wide open to defend human rights.