Dorothy Estrada-Tanck (born 1976) is a Mexican academic who has worked in Spain. She has led the United Nations Working Group on discrimination against women and girls. She co-authored a report about the "gender apartheid" in Afghanistan which they considered a crime against humanity.

Life

Estrada-Tanck was born in 1976. She graduated as a lawyer in Mexico City at the Escuela Libre de Derecho. She studied for her political theory master's degree at the London School of Economics and Political Science and her doctorate was from the European University Institute with a thesis titled "Human security and human rights under international law: reinforcing protection in the context of structural vulnerability". In 2016 she published ''Human Security and Human Rights under International Law: The Protections Offered to Persons Confronting Structural Vulnerability''. Estrada-Tanck works at the Spanish

University of Murcia The University of Murcia () is the primary institute of higher education in Murcia, Spain. With a student population of approximately 38,000, it is the largest university in the Region of Murcia. Founded in 1272 AD, the University of Murcia is ...

as a Tenured Professor of International Law and International Relations. Estrada-Tanck was appointed by the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

to join the Working Group on Discrimination against Women and Girls in September 2020. She succeeded

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of Costa Rica and she joined a small group of experts including Claudia Flores. She became the group's chair in October 2022. In 2023 the UN Human Rights Council received a joint report by Estrada-Tanck as Chair of the UN Working Group and Richard Bennett who was the Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in Afghanistan which they described a crime against humanity following a week-long visit to the country. The report addressed the discrimination of women in Afghanistan as it was then governed by the Taliban. They concluded that the current situation resulted in "total domination" and "gender apartheid". They highlighted this as the worst situation in the world for women and girls. Judges were quotedas saying that women probably deserved mistreatment when they complained in courts. In June 2024, she was one of the many UN experts who spoke out against the sale of arms to Israel as a result of the conflict in Gaza. The experts cautioned arms suppliers and finance companies that they would be implicated in human rights violations. The list included the members of her UN working group and special reporteurs

Attiya Waris Attiya Waris (born 25 October 1974) is a Kenyan professor at the University of Nairobi and a writer about financing development from diverse perspectives including illicit financial flows and corporate tax reform. She became the UN Independent Ex ...

, Paula Gaviria Betancur, Tlaleng Mofokeng, Mary Lawlor,

Astrid Puentes Riaño Astrid Jovanna Puentes Riaño (born 1975) is a Colombian-born Mexican law professor. She has led the Interamerican Association for Environmental Defense (AIDA) to support the people who live in La Oroya, "one of the most polluted places on Earth". ...

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and

Francesca Albanese Francesca P. Albanese (; born 30 March 1977) is an Italian legal scholar and expert on human rights. On 1 May 2022, she was appointed United Nations (UN) Special Rapporteur on the occupied Palestinian territories for a three-year term, which ...

. On International Women's Day in 2024 she joined a panel which included

Nayera Kohistani Nayera Kohistani is an Afghan women's rights activist. She lived through the first Taliban rule in her country. She was a protester when they came to power again. She left the country in 2022 after being imprisoned and she is a prominent proteste ...

of Afghanistan, the Maltese politician

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and

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Malala Yousafzai Malala Yousafzai (; , pronunciation: ; born 12 July 1997) is a Pakistani female education activist, film and television producer, and the 2014 Nobel Peace Prize laureate at the age of 17. She is the youngest Nobel Prize laureate in history, ...

moderated by CNN's Jomana Karadsheh. The panel highlighted what Nayera Kohistani called the criminalisation of gender in Afghanistan. She asked the international community to consider "where are we going to draw the red line?"

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Estrada-Tanck, Dorothy 1975 births Living people Mexican jurists Alumni of the London School of Economics Escuela Libre de Derecho alumni European University Institute alumni Mexican women's rights activists United Nations officials