Marcos A Orellana

Marcos A. Orellana is the UN Special Rapporteur on toxics and human rights and an expert in international law and the law on human rights and the environment. He also teaches international environmental law at the George Washington University School of Law and international law at the American University Washington College of Law. His practice as legal advisor has included work with UN agencies, governments and non-governmental organizations, including on wastes and chemicals issues at the Basel and Minamata conventions, the UN Environment Assembly and the Human Rights Council. He has also served as senior legal advisor to the Presidency of the 25th Conference of the Parties of the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change. Dr. Orellana has extensive experience working with civil society on issues concerning global environmental justice. He was the inaugural director of the Environment and Human Rights Division at Human Rights Watch, directed the trade and human rights programs at the Center for International Environmental Law, and co-chaired the UN Environment Program’s civil society forum. He was a fellow at the University of Cambridge, visiting scholar with the Environmental Law Institute in Washington D.C., and instructor professor of international law at the Universidad de Talca, Chile.