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The Human Rights Essay Award is an annual prize sponsored by the Academy, aiming to stimulate the production of academic articles in the field of international human rights law. Lawyers from around the world submit valuable academic pieces that become fundamental in promoting knowledge and education in human rights, becoming an essential tool for its strengthening.

The theme for the 2024 award is: "Protection and Guarantee of Human Rights in Digital Environments."ÌýThe Academy selected this theme as it is at the center of debates regarding the promotion and protection of human rights. Despite this, compared to other areas of International Human Rights Law, its development is still in its early stages. It is undeniable that our lives unfold to a greater or lesser extent in digital environments, and this can imply significant advances in various areas of development. Still, at the same time, they directly impact people's lives. In that sense, special attention must be paid to safeguarding human rights that are often affected or limited in this new context. Debates on privacy, access to information, security, journalism, censorship, and how these affect differentially vulnerable groups are some critical issues to consider.

We invite you to meet the outstanding minds that make up our Honor Jury, who shape the human rights and digital rights discourse daily, whose task is to choose the winning essay and honorable mentions:

• Nighat Dad - Pakistani attorney, Founder & Executive Director of the Digital Rights Foundation (ENG).
• ÌýAgustina del Campo - Argentinian attorney, Director of the Center for Studies on Freedom of Expression (CELE) (ENG).
• ÌýIna Jost - Brazilian Attorney, Head of Research on Freedom of Expression at InternetLab, a leading Brazilian think tank (ENG).
• ÌýSandra Coliver - US international human rights lawyer, a trailblazer in freedom of expression, information, assembly, and association (ENG).
• ÌýKathryn Kleiman - US Attorney, Co-Founder of Noncommercial Users Constituency at ICANN, Senior Policy Fellow at Â鶹´«Ã½ Washington College of Law (ENG).
• ÌýEduardo Bertoni - Argentinian attorney, Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law Director, AUWCL, Former Special Rapporteur for Freedom of Expression (ENG).
• ÌýClaudia Martin - Co-Director, Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Â鶹´«Ã½ Washington College of Law (ENG).

• ÌýEdison Lanza – Uruguayan attorney and former Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression for the IACHR (ESP).
• ÌýCarolina Botero - Colombian attorney and Director of the Colombian Karisma Foundation (ESP).
• ÌýDamián Loreti - Argentinian attorney y académico especializado en libertad de expresión (ESP).
• ÌýPedro Vaca Villarreal - Colombian attorney y and Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression for the IACHR (ESP).
• ÌýCatalina Botero - Colombian attorney, co-chair of Facebook's Oversight Board and former Special Rapporteur of Freedom of Expression for the IACHR (ESP).
• ÌýMariela Antoniazzi Morales -ÌýVenezuelan attorney and research fellow at the Max Planck Institute for Comparative Public Law and International Law (ESP).
• ÌýDiego Rodríguez-Pinzón - Co-Director, Academia de Derechos Humanos y Derecho Internacional Humanitario, Â鶹´«Ã½ Washington College of Law (ESP).

By Tatiana Bances Lange and Gabriel Ortiz Crespo