Margarette May Macaulay

Margarette May Macaulay

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Margarette May Macaulay is one of Jamaica’s most experienced advocates and jurists, as well as a leading human rights advocate. She has long lobbied for and assisted in the reform of the existing laws of Jamaica through the repeal of archaic provisions and for the enactment of new legislation to ensure the protection of the human rights of all persons in Jamaica.

Macaulay was in 2006 elected to serve as a judge of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights from 2007 to 2012. She served with distinction, sometimes heading the court’s delegation to have discussions with other such organizations. She worked diligently, participated in the hearing of every case, applications for provisional measures, and in the preparation of all judgments and decisions. Macaulay acted as rapporteur judge in certain cases and also in the hearings for monitoring of the compliance or non-compliance by State Parties with the judgments and/or provisional measures. She also contributed to the formulation of the amended Court Rules in 2010.

She was in 2015 elected as a commissioner of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights by the Organization of American States (OAS) General Assembly. In January 2016, Macaulay was elected and served as the second vice president, in 2017 as first vice president, and in 2018 as president. She served as the rapporteur of women’s rights, as the rapporteur for the rights of Afro-Descendants and against racism, and as the rapporteur for the rights of migrants. She worked diligently and passionately to increase the involvement of the Caribbean state parties in the commission’s work as best as their small staff permitted, as well as for changes within the commission to ensure more diversity through inclusion of Indigenous and Afro-Descendant persons in the staff complement.

Macaulay was in in 2018 re-elected by the OAS General Assembly to a second term as commissioner. She continued her work as commissioner and in her rapporteurships, save that she switched women’s rights for the rights of older persons, which she continued through 2023. She was elected and served as the second vice president in 2022 and as president in 2023.

In December 2017, Macaulay was selected as an honoured member of the Gender Justice Legacy Group of notable women rights advocates who have worked and effected important changes. She was also acknowledged for her work on the elaboration of the Rules of Procedure and the Elements of Crimes for the International Criminal Court (ICC) during the Preparatory Sessions at the United Nations Headquarters in New York.

In the course of her work for the rights of women and children, as a volunteer, she headed for more than six years the National Women’s Rights and the National Children’s Rights Organizations in Jamaica, as well as the Caribbean Organization on Women’s Rights, Research and Action, which served all four languages of the sub-region.

Macaulay has served the longest of everyone in the Americas in the two juridical organs of the OAS. Human Rights is her passion.

Duration

01:02:01

Publication Date

9-24-2024

Disciplines

Law

Margarette May Macaulay


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