Eva Pastrana is the Head of the Council of Europe Justice and Human Rights Training. As such, she is also responsible for the Human Rights Education for Legal Professionals (HELP) Programme of the Council of Europe, where she works since 2015. HELP is the CoE’s educational platform on human rights for judges, prosecutors and lawyers.
She is a Spanish with 3 Masters’ degrees, on law, on human rights and development cooperation, with 27 years of professional experience, working for international organisations (EU, UN), and national authorities (Spanish Cooperation Agency AECID and High Council of Judiciary GGPJ) as well as NGOs, in different geographical areas: Georgia, Maghreb/Middle East, Philippines and Nicaragua.
Previous to her joining the Council of Europe, she worked for the EU as the Human Rights Attaché in Georgia (2009-2015) and the EU Security Reform/Justice Attaché to the Philippines (2004-2009), including as negotiator of successfully concluded EU agreements with Georgia (association, trade, visa liberalisation) and the Philippines. She also worked on cooperation projects. In 2013 she became the main policy/political advisor for the EU Representative on Constitutional, Legal Issues and Human Rights to Georgia, former CoE Commissioner for Human Rights Thomas Hammarberg. She also followed strategic individual human rights cases and organised/led the annual EU-Georgia human rights dialogue with the authorities.
Before, Eva worked five years in Nicaragua, including for the Spanish Agency for Development Cooperation under the Minister of Foreign Affairs and the High Council of Judiciary, and one year in West Bank/Gaza. She has also substantive work experience of six years with Spanish NGOs working in Maghreb and Middle East countries and the 90’s Spanish NGO Coalition that concluded with the ratification by Spain of the International Criminal Court in 1998.