Celso Lafer

Emeritus Professor at the Institute of International Relations at Universidade de São Paulo (USP), where he taught as a full professor at the Department of Philosophy and General Theory of Law at USP Law School, until 2011. He holds a PhD in Political Science from Cornell University (USA). Jurist, human rights scholar, specialist in international relations and foreign trade. In 1992, he was Minister of State for Foreign Affairs and ex-officio vice-president of the UN Conference on Environment and Development, Rio-92. In his second term at Itamaraty (2001-2002), he headed the Brazilian delegation to the Ministerial Conference of the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Doha. He was Minister of State for Development, Industry and Commerce (1999) and Ambassador, Head of the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization in Geneva (1995-1998). In 1996, he chaired the WTO Dispute Settlement Body and, in 1997, the General Council of the same entity. He is a member of the Brazilian Academy of Letters and the Brazilian Academy of Sciences. He was Chairman of the Board of Directors of Metal Leve S/A. Indústria e Comércio (1993-1995), member of the Board of Directors of Fundação Orquestra Sinfônica do Estado de São Paulo – Fundação Osesp (2005-2011) and president of Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo – Fapesp (2007-2015). He currently chairs the Ema Klabin Foundation and the Board of the Lasar Segall Museum. He is a member of the Advisory Board of Associação Pinacoteca Arte e Cultura in São Paulo. Author of several books, among them: The reconstruction of human rights, a dialogue with the thought of Hannah Arendt (1988); Trade, disarmament, human rights – reflections on a diplomatic experience (1999), The internationalization of human rights: Constitution, racism and international relations (2005), co-authored with Alberto Filippi. He received, among many others, the following honors: honorary doctorate from the University of Tres de Febrero – UNTREF, from Argentina (2011) and from the Université Jean Moulin Lyon 3, from France (2012); Honorary Fellow at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem (2006); Moinho Santista award from the Bunge Foundation in the area of International Relations (2001). In 2006, he held the Chair “Southern Countries and Cultures” at John W. Kluge Center at the US Library of Congress.