Marcos A. Orellana

Marcos A. Orellana (LL.M., S.J.D.) is adjunct professor at the American University Washington College of Law, where he teaches international law and environmental law courses. Dr. Orellana is also the UN Special Rapporteur on Toxics and Human Rights and in that role reports to the UN Human Rights Council and the UN General Assembly. His research interests include the role of global interests in shaping and operationalizing global obligations, and the interface between human rights and the planetary environmental crisis. His practice as legal advisor has included work with United Nations agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations. His practice as climate negotiator has included work representing the eight-nation Independent Association of Latin America and the Caribbean (AILAC) in the negotiations of the Paris Agreement on Climate Change. Professor Orellana has appeared before several international courts and tribunals, including the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights, the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes and the World Trade Organization. Professor Orellana has extensive experience working with civil society around the world on issues concerning global environmental justice. He was the inaugural director of the Environment and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch. Previously he directed the trade and the human rights programs at the Center for International Environmental Law. Professor Orellana has also lectured in universities around the world, including Melbourne, Pretoria, Geneva, George Washington and Guadalajara. He was a fellow at the University of Cambridge and a visiting scholar with the Environmental Law Institute.