1993 Advocate Luis Felipe Polo returned to Columbia University in February to meet the current HRAP cohort at the ISHR Winter Reception. He shared with them his memories of HRAP as well as his Columbia ID card--which he still carries with him! While at the reception, he was thrilled to see retired Columbia Professors Joan Ferrante and Carey McIntosh who regularly hosted HRAP advocates, including him, at their home in Western Massachusetts during the first two decades of the program.
"I look at my life in two sections: before HRAP and after HRAP," said Felipe. He said the program helped him to develop his thinking on human rights both as an academic and as a practitioner. He fondly remembered taking Louis Henkin's class on international human rights law and said he still has an autographed textbook by Henkin. Felipe said he is still in contact with members of the 1993 cohort. He remained in close contact with Professor Paul Martin who led the Center for the Study of Human Rights when Felipe attended HRAP. In fact, they were co-authoring an article before Professor Martin passed away in early 2024.
Since HRAP, Felipe has been involved in international development, human rights, public policy, and education. He has several publications including Philosophical Foundations of Human Rights (2000, 2010, 2013 and 2020), Theology of Inclusion and Diversity, Humanizing Politics from Politics, and The Death Penalty and Human Rights. In 2001, Felipe was appointed as Rector of the Universidad Rafael Landívar-Quetzaltenango Campus. He managed the university’s 11 undergraduate and graduate programs, which included 5,000 students and 350 faculty and staff. Felipe introduced human rights courses to the university. In 2005, he left academia to serve as the Principal Advisor to Dr. Eduardo Stein Barillas, the Vice President of the Republic of Guatemala. He served as the Executive Director of the Latin American office of Human Rights of Journalists where he defended journalists accused of political crimes in Latin America and helped to free several journalists from prison. Felipe was Division Chief of the Inter-American Development Bank, Political Affairs Officer at the United Nations Organization, Academic Researcher for the Andean Commission of Jurists, and a consultant for a number of organizations including the Organization of American States, United Nations Children's Fund, United Nations Development Program, and Human Rights Watch.
