Alejandra Mora Mora (born 1970) is a Costa Rican jurist, lawyer, professor, and politician. Currently she serves as the Executive Secretary of the

Inter-American Commission of Women The Inter-American Commission of Women (, , ), abbreviated CIM, is an organization that falls within the Organization of American States. It was established in 1928 by the Sixth Pan-American Conference and is composed of one female representative ...

. She has been a

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

activist, especially in the area of

women's rights Women's rights are the rights and Entitlement (fair division), entitlements claimed for women and girls worldwide. They formed the basis for the women's rights movement in the 19th century and the feminist movements during the 20th and 21st c ...

. She served as her country's Minister of Women's Affairs from 2014 to 2018, was president of the National Institute for Woman (INAMU), and director of the women's section of the .

Education

Alejandra Mora Mora earned a law degree from the

University of Costa Rica The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...

in 1989. She completed specialization courses at

Lund University Lund University () is a Public university, public research university in Sweden and one of Northern Europe's oldest universities. The university is located in the city of Lund in the Swedish province of Scania. The university was officially foun ...

and the Raoul Wallenberg Institute in 1997, a master's degree in

constitutional law Constitutional law is a body of law which defines the role, powers, and structure of different entities within a state, namely, the executive, the parliament or legislature, and the judiciary; as well as the basic rights of citizens and, in ...

from the

Distance State University The Distance State University () (UNED), is one of five public universities in the Republic of Costa Rica. It is in Mercedes, Montes de Oca. UNED is the second university in number of students, and it is the largest coverage in the country. It has ...

of Costa Rica in 2004, and a postgraduate degree in human rights from the

University of Chile The University of Chile () is a public university, public research university in Santiago, Chile. It was founded on November 19, 1842, and inaugurated on September 17, 1843.

in 2007.

Career

Mora began her professional career in 1989, at the Ministry of Justice of Costa Rica headed by Odio Benítez. From 1989 to 1993, she was national chief of the legal department, national chief of advocacy, member of the National Institute of Criminology, and advisor to the women's section of the General Human Rights Ombudsman. Between 1993 and 2002, she was the director of the women's section of the . From 2002 to 2006, she was the director of the advisory team of the Citizens' Action Party in the Legislative Assembly. From 2007 to 2014, she returned to her previous position as director of the women's section of the Ombudsman's Office. In 2013 she conducted an investigation on the rights of women for the state of the nation. From 2012 to 2018, Mora was executive president of the INAMU, and from 2014 to 2018 she was Minister of Women's Affairs in the Solís Rivera administration and a member of the Governing Council. At this stage, she focused on the design and governance of

public policies Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and problematic social issues, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. T ...

regarding discrimination and violence against women. In 2018, she returned to her position as director of the women's section of the Ombudsman's Office. In the field of international representation, she was coordinator of the

International Federation for Human Rights The International Federation for Human Rights (; FIDH) is a non-governmental federation for human rights organizations. Founded in 1922, FIDH is the third oldest international human rights organization worldwide after Anti-Slavery International ...

in 2000, and coordinator of the Ibero-American Ombudsman Federation's Network for Women in 2012. From 2012 to 2016 she was president of the

(CIM) and of the Follow-up Mechanism to the Convention of Belém do Pará (MESECVI) of the

Organization of American States The Organization of American States (OAS or OEA; ; ; ) is an international organization founded on 30 April 1948 to promote cooperation among its member states within the Americas. Headquartered in Washington, D.C., United States, the OAS is ...

(OAS), as well as women's advisor to the UN's High-level Panel for Empowerment. In July 2019, she returned to the CIM as its executive secretary. Mora is a professor of family law at the University of Costa Rica. She has taught at various universities since 1998, such as the University of La Salle, University of Costa Rica, and the Distance State University. Since 2000, she has been invited to national and international forums as an expert on women's rights, for the elaboration, advocacy, and lobbying for the approval of laws against harassment and violence, and promoting responsible parenthood.

Awards and recognitions

* In 2018 she was designated by the Apolitical Group as one of the 100 most influential people in the world in gender policies in its "Gender Equality Top 100". * In 2019 she received the Women's Institution Award from the Chamber of Commerce in the framework of the Program for the Development of Women Entrepreneurs.

Works

* 2009: Co-author of ''Haciendo visible lo invisible'', compilation of cases of the defense of women's rights * 2010: Article "El derecho de familia y los derechos Humanos" in ''Derecho de Familia en Latinoamérica'', Editorial Nuevo Enfoque Jurídico, Córdoba, Argentina * 2011: ''Ley contra el Hostigamiento Sexual en el Empleo y la Docencia'', commented and annotated, Editorial Juritexto, 1st edition, San José, Costa Rica * 2012: Article: "La progresividad y el Derecho de familia" in ''El derecho de Familia en Latinoamérica'', Editorial Nuevo Enfoque Jurídico, Argentina

Periodicals

* 1991, 1992, 1995: Co-author of brochures ''Jurisprudencia Constitucional sobre el Derecho Penitenciario'', ''Hostigamiento Sexual: Algunas Reflexiones Teóricas-Jurídicas'', ''Violencia en las relaciones de Pareja'' * 1996: "¿Quién ejerce la Patria Potestad de los hijos extramatrimoniales en Costa Rica?" in ''IVSTITIA'' No. 114-115, June–July * 2000: "Ley contra el Hostigamiento sexual: Comentarios a la ley y un análisis desde el principio de igualdad jurídica", ''IVSTITIA'' No. 159, March * 2000: "Compilación de Jurisprudencia de la Defensoría de la Mujer", booklets of the Ombudsman's Office * 2002: "El mundo jurídico como instrumento para el adelanto de las condiciones y situaciones de las mujeres: Una aproximación a la Ley de Paternidad Responsable", ''Parlamentaria'' No. 3, Volume 10, December 2002, Legislative Assembly

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mora Mora, Alejandra 1970 births 21st-century Costa Rican women writers 21st-century Costa Rican writers Citizens' Action Party (Costa Rica) politicians 20th-century Costa Rican lawyers Costa Rican women's rights activists Costa Rican women activists Government ministers of Costa Rica Living people Lund University alumni University of Chile alumni University of Costa Rica alumni Academic staff of the University of Costa Rica Women government ministers of Costa Rica Women human rights activists 21st-century Costa Rican lawyers 21st-century Costa Rican women politicians 20th-century Costa Rican women lawyers 21st-century women lawyers Women's ministers of Costa Rica