Dissertation Title: TBD
Doctoral Supervisor: Professor Mattias Kumm
Biography: Mateo is a JSD student from Colombia and holds an LLM in International Legal Studies from NYU Law, where he received the Dean's Graduate Award. He earned his law degree at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, where he received a tuition scholarship during the program. Mateo worked for the Special Jurisdiction for Peace (SJP), the tribunal created in Colombia after the 2016 Peace Agreement. In the SJP, he participated in designing the special restorative sanctions imposed on perpetrators who fully acknowledge responsibility. Moreover, He trained more than one hundred and fifty attorneys who represent victims within the procedures of the SJP on issues related to the rules of operation of this Tribunal.
Furthermore, between 2020 and 2022, Mateo was a professor of constitutional law, legal history, legal research methods, and legal argumentation at the Pontificia Universidad Javeriana, where he coordinated a research group on constitutional law preparing and filing amicus curiae opinions before the Colombian Constitutional Court. Mateo has published several papers about constitutional law and transitional justice as a scholar, primarily on the relationship between political transitions and economic, social, and cultural rights. In 2023, Mateo worked as a research assistant in the Prevention Project of the NYU Law Center for Human Rights and Global Justice, working with professors Pablo De Greiff and Tarunabh Khaitan. Also, in March 2023, he published a book about systematic international crimes and restorative justice.
Research: Mateo's research addresses the rising of illiberal regimens, democracy, international human rights law, and regional human rights bodies.
Contact Information: mateo.merchan@nyu.edu