Dr. Cynthia Aagard offers deep expertise on the structural failure of justice systems in post-conflict Latin America. Her unique combination of legal anthropology, field documentation, and regional litigation partnerships makes her a crucial voice in discussions around procedural invisibility and legal reform. Her work has helped define regional standards on gendered accountability, transitional reparations, and legal access for stateless and indigenous populations.
transitional justice, gender-based exclusion, and survivor rights
across Latin America. With nearly two decades of legal and
academic research experience, she has coordinated justice
access projects in over 20 countries, including Colombia,
Guatemala, Brazil, and Honduras. Her work interrogates how
formal legal systems exclude women, indigenous peoples, and
stateless claimants, especially in post-conflict or authoritarian
transition states. Fluent in Spanish and a skilled contributor to
regional litigation efforts, she is a vital expert on procedural
failure, legal invisibility, and community justice in Latin
America’s most contested legal terrains.
− Colombia: Land restitution justice, transitional frameworks
− Guatemala: Military-era GBV trial research
− Peru: Quechua testimony prep, gendered impunity
− Mexico: Femicide prosecution failure documentation
− El Salvador, Honduras: Legal collapse analysis
− Brazil: Litigation for domestic violence survivors
− Bolivia: Customary law research
− Paraguay: Indigenous land tribunal access
− Argentina: Reparations tracking
− Ecuador, Chile: Post-conflict justice and exclusion
− Dominican Republic: Statelessness documentation
− Cuba: Legal risk for dissident women
− Haiti: Statelessness evidence
− Spain: Legal research roles
− UK: Academic base
• 2017–Present: Ecuador/Spain – Research Coordinator, Fundación Justicia Abierta
• 2015–2017: Spain – Legal Researcher at Universidad de Deusto
• 2013–Present: Field Consultant – Legal and policy research across 20 Latin American countries
• 2010–2014: Argentina – PhD in Legal Anthropology
• 2007–2008: Spain – MA in Human Rights
• 2003–2006: UK – Undergraduate studies in Philosophy and Sociology
Justice Without Remedies – Latin American Law & Society Review (2023)
Erased by Procedure – Justicia Abierta Report (2021)
Gender, Memory, and Law – Co-authored with CEJIL (2020)
Customary Exclusion – Deusto Human Rights Working Papers (2017)
Transitional Justice and Legal Culture in Latin America – Contributor (2019)