Germán Garavano

Germán Garavano was born in 1969 in Buenos Aires. At the age of 18, he enrolled at the Pontifical Catholic University of Argentina to study law, graduating in 1994.^[4][5][6]

Simultaneously, he began his career at the federal criminal courts of Argentina, reaching the status of clerk of the court after years of several promotions.^[2]

He completed postgraduate studies at the Laws and Economics Institute of the Complutense University of Madrid, Spain, as well as at the United Kingdom, where he was invited by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and the British Council.^[5]

Before Garavano was appointed Attorney General of the city of Buenos Aires in 2007, he performed as Counselor of the Council of Magistracy of the city of Buenos Aires and judge at the Criminal Court No. 12 of the city. He was also elected vice-president of the Board of Trustees of Justice Studies Center of the Americas (CEJA-JSCA), chosen for this position by the General Assembly of the Organization of American States (OAS), proposed by the Argentine government.^[7][8]

In 2008, Garavano encouraged the creation of the Criminal Investigation Squad at the General Secretariat of Criminal Policies and Strategic Planning of the Buenos Aires Attorney General's Office.^[9]

In 2014 he was elected substitute Counsillor of Argentina's Council of Magistracy on representation of the lawyers of Buenos Aires, sharing the 4-year term with Adriana Donato.^[1]

He has written fifteen books and numerous articles on Law and judicial reform, some of which have received awards.^[2] Starting in April 2014, he also performed as the academic director of the non-governmental organization Unidos Por la Justicia. Regarding his personal life, Garavano is married and has three sons.^[4]

As Minister of Justice and Human Rights of Argentina, he was the promoter of a profound judicial reform program named 'Justicia 2020' ('Justice 2020'). The reform involves median and long term measures that aim at transforming the Argentine justice system. Justicia 2020 promotes a modern and transparent administration of justice, in accordance with the New World Agenda of Sustainable Development of United Nations. Among the initiatives promoted in the program, there are reforms that seek to modernise procedures and create new especializad courts to facilitate investigation.^[10] The program was prized by the OECD and the Open Government Partnership in 2019.^[11]

During his term as Minister, the United States declassified secret files about the so-called National Reorganization Process and gave them to Argentina's government.^[12] Garavano received around 50,000 digitalized pages of documents.^[13]

In February 2018, Garavano hosted the first meeting of the International Working Group on Justice in Buenos Aires, an initiative of the Pathfinders for Peaceful, Just and Inclusive Societies. The meeting brought together the group's co-chairs: Sierra Leone's Minister of Justice Joseph Kamara, the Netherlands' Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Sigrid Kaag, and Hina Jilani of The Elders.^[14] The meeting included participation from Mary Robinson, former President of Ireland and United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and Hina Jilani, who led a walk for justice as part of the centenary celebrations for Nelson Mandela. The event also featured the presentation of the Grassroots Justice Prize, which recognized the work of community activists worldwide.^[14] The Working Group focused on addressing the situation of more than 4 billion people living without effective access to justice, working in four areas: measuring the global justice gap, developing arguments for investment in justice, identifying effective strategies to close the gap, and drafting a call to action for the implementation of Sustainable Development Goal 16.3 on access to justice from the 2030 Agenda.^[14]

In 2018, when Italy's president Sergio Mattarella visited Argentina, he awarded Garavano with the Order of the Star of Italy.^[15]