María Victoria Rivas

María Victoria Rivas holds a doctorate in the legal sciences from Universidad Americana de Paraguay. She earned her law degree at Universidad Nacional de Asunción in the School of Law and Social Sciences (Paraguay). She completed a specialization program in constitutional justice and human rights at University of Bologna (Italy). She also completed a program for specialists in policy management and public management at Universidad Columbia de Paraguay and the George Washington University.

She was an Assistant General Prosecutor in the Paraguayan public prosecution service. Dr. Rivas served as the technical advisor and coordinator of the National Judicial Reform Commission, which is part of the Paraguayan Parliament.

She was also a technical advisor to National Parliament for the Criminal Procedure Reform and the Organic Law of the Public Prosecution Service. She has worked as a technical consultant for cooperation agencies such as USAID, IADB and the European Union. She won the Universidad Americana award for Leadership in Paraguay for 2010 in the “Female Leadership” category. She is a founding partner and the Executive Director of the Center for Judicial Studies of Paraguay (CEJ).