Curriculum Vitae

SUMMARY: International and domestic policy development and implementation with a focus on autonomy, ethnic diversity and peacebuilding, following an innovative and collaborative approach. Professional experience in international organizations (OSCE, UN) both at the field and headquarters level, conflict (Iraq), post-conflict (Kosovo, East Timor), complex scenarios (Myanmar) and non-conflict settings (Hungary, Slovakia). Project development and implementation. Fluent in English and Spanish (mother tongue).

Born: 31 August 1973
Marital status: single
E-mail: carraiza@hotmail.com

EDUCATION

• PhD on autonomy and minority language rights, Thesis: "Making Home Rules for Mother Tongues: The Legal Implications of Linguistic Diversity in the Design of Autonomy Regimes". Åbo Akademi University, (Turku, Finland).

• 2008/2009, LL.M. in Peace Support Operations, National University of Ireland at Galway. Master thesis: “Squaring Indigenous Circles: The Making of Nicaragua’s Communal Property Regime” (published by the International Journal on Minority and Group Rights in 2012). 

• 2001/2002, European Master Degree in Human Rights and Democratisation (E.MA), University of Padua (Italy), Awarded thesis: “Serb Participation in the Provisional Institutions of Kosovo”, awarded and published by the E.MA (Marsilio Editore).

• 1998, Furthering of University Studies –International Student Exchange Programme (ISEP)- Sociology, Anthropology, Political Science. University of Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico, USA.

• 1992/1997, Graduate Degree in Journalism and Communication Studies (‘Licenciado en Ciencias de la Informacion’). Universidad Complutense de Madrid (Spain) – Facultad de Ciencias de la Información,  (focus on international relations and public international law).

RELEVANT COURSES

• Training of Trainers on Collaborative Dispute Resolution (CDR), NRC Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance Programme (ICLA), Dar Es Salaam, October 2016. 
• RECODE Summer School: "The Challenges of Complex Diversity: Theoretical and Empirical Perspectives from Europe and Canada", Dublin (Ireland), June 2013. 

• Advanced Course on the International Protection of Human Rights, Åbo Akademi University.  Åbo/Turku, Finland, August 2007.  Paper on "Balancing Collective and Individual Rights: Property Rights and Returns Considerations the Development of Special Measures for Cultural Heritage Protection in Kosovo".

• Olympia Summer Seminars on Conflict and Identity (August 2008 and July 2009). University of Yale/University of Makedonia: Presentation on ´Autonomy and Self-Determination in Ethnic Conflicts´.

• International Course on the Protection of Minorities, Irish Center for Human Rights (Galway) – (June 2009). 

• International Course on International Criminal Law: ´the Role of Non-State Actors´ International Center for Criminal Justice (ISISC), Syracusa, Sicily – (June 2009). 

 

• Performance Based Programme Budgeting,  (OSCE Mission in Kosovo, 2007). 

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

January 2017 to Present: ICLA Specialist
Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance, Norwegian Refugee Council
 
Yangon, Myanmar

• Led ICLA advocacy in Myanmar and promote the rights of IDPs/returnees, ethnic and religious minorities and other vulnerable persons.
  
  Technical oversight of an Access to Civil Documents project which benefitted up to 500 000 individuals in conflict affected areas.
  Developed restitution legal policy recommendations for conflict affected property rights holders in co-operation with Displacement Solutions.
  Supported the start up of ICLA programmes in Rakhine, Kachin and Northern Shan.
  Developed Information, Counseling and Legal Assisstance programme strategy, and provide technical guidance.
  Contributed to fundraising. Developed and revised funding proposals, budgets and donor reports.
  Identified trends technical standards and donor priorities.
  Ensured that key learnings were extracted from ICLA programme implementation, and incorporate them into staff development processes.
  Provided systematic training and build capacity of technical staff on citizenship issues, Collaborative Dispute Resolution, Housing, Land and Property rights and other matters.

February 2016 to December 2016: Programme Development Manager
Information, Counselling and Legal Assistance, Norwegian Refugee Council
 
Dawei, Tanintharyi, Myanmar

• Manage, develop and implement NRC´s Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance programme in Myanmar, covering Housing, Land and Property Rights, facilitated access to civil documents for vulnerable groups, including minorities, and cross border information for refugees.
• Develop NRC programmatic strategies on ICLA issues (citizenship/access to documents, Housing, Land and Property, Cross Border Information for Refugees).

From April 2015 to February 2016:
Project Coordinator
Information Counselling and Legal Assistance (ICLA), Norwegian Refugee Council.
Dawei, Tanintharyi, Myanmar

• Implement NRC´s Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance programme in Myanmar, covering Housing, Land and Property Rights, facilitated access to civil documents for vulnerable groups and cross border information for refugees.
• Develop ICLA HLP projects in Myanmar, including profiling of target villages & beneficiaries. 

From November 2012 until April 2015:

Human and Minority Rights Professional. 

• Researched on Catalonia (self-determination), Hungary and Slovakia (good neighbourliness), Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and fYROM (integrated education). 
• Research on autonomy and the rights of minorities and indigenous peoples as a PhD candidate for Åbo Akademi University. Thesis: "The Legal Implications of Linguistic Diversity in the Design of Autonomy Regimes" successfully defended in September 2015 (eximia cum laude).
• As a consultant to the OSCE, asessed challenges to the internal monitoring of the implementation of laws in Kosovo by the executive branch and proposed ways forward.
• Facilitator in the November 2013 elections in North Kosovo.
• Supported Energía Sin Fronteras project bringing sustainable energy (solar panels) to the HIV orphans' education and residential facilities of Nyumbani (Kitui, Kenya).

• Co-operated with civil society organizations and wrote articles for different media outlets on conflict and humanitarian issues. Participated in a USIP and PAX initiative to improve Kurdistan's minority rights framework.
• Participated in academic initiatives (e.g., March 2013 Conference on Autonomy, University of Bochum; April 2013 Workshop on the Cyprus Conflict, Universidad Autónoma de Madrid; Property and Investment in Jus Post Bellum, Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies, The Hague).
• Participated on the III International Conference on Language Rights, Inclusion and the Prevention of Ethnic Conflicts (Chiang Mai, Thailand, December 2012). Presentation: "Conflict prevention v. integration? Language rights in post-conflict societies". 
• Project Coordinator (HLP & Civil Documentation) for the Norwegian Refugee Council Information, Counseling and Legal Assistance programme in Tanintharyi (Myanmar). 

• Drafted analysis and opinion pieces on a variety of matters for Spanish media, including Catalonia's bid for self-determinaton, the Gaza conflict, the Syrian refugee crisis and Spain's border management.  

From September 2010 until November 2012: 

SENIOR LEGAL ADVISER, Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe High Commissioner on National Minorities (OSCE HCNM), The Hague (The Netherlands).

• Provided legal and policy advice to the High Commissioner on minority protection, early warning, early action and conflict prevention matters in relation with tensions involving ethnic minorities which have not yet developed beyond an early warning stage;

• Designed and implement projects aimed at confidence building in ethnically divided areas in co-operation with governments;

• Undertook strategic planning of legal, policy and project activities in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe and the Balkans, with a focus on Serbia, Kosovo, fYROM, Hungary and Slovakia.

• Built strategic partnerships and alliances with relevant counterparts (international organizations, NGOs, academic actors) and developed strategies to prevent statelessness;  

• Provided comments on draft legislation to OSCE member states (e.g., Estonia, Hungary, Slovakia, Kosovo (UNSC 1244)) on areas such as language rights, citizenship, political participation, policing and media; 

•  Supervised legal aspects and contributed to the drafting of a "Text-book on Civic and Inter-Cultural Education" for its use by the Kosovo education authorities;

• Undertook conflict analysis, political economy and governance analyses. Assessed needs in the area of transitional justice/dealing with the past in post-conflict environments; 

• Monitored and analysed public policy, legislation and state practice affecting human rights, access to justice and the participation of minorities, taking into account gender considerations; recommended actions such as public statements condemning violence against Roma; 

• Actively participated in the Office’s Gender working group and promoted awareness of women, peace and security issues in line with UNSC 1325; 

• Drafted comprehensive analysis and country specific reports, as well as official correspondence and contributed to the statements of the HCNM to the OSCE Permanent Council; 

• Represented the HCNM at seminars, conferences and coordination meetings; 

• Organised trainings and capacity building activities for young diplomats (e.g., Clingendael Institute, The Hague), university students (University of Rotterdam, Grotius Center for International Legal Studies–Leiden University) and international officials (Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights–ODIHR, Warsaw);

• Liaised and co-operated with relevant local and international organizations, (e.g., Council of Europe Venice Commission, Advisory Committee on the Framework Convention for the Protection of National Minorities), including UN human rights bodies (e.g., the UNHCR), as well as National Human Rights Institutions; 

• Actively contributed to the drafting of the 2012 Ljubljana Guidelines on the Integration of Diverse Societies; 

• Participated in electoral assistance activities, in co-operation with the ODIHR; 

• Accompanied the High Commissioner during country visits.

From September 2009 until August 2010: 

RESEARCHER 

• Undertook research as a PhD candidate in Åbo Akademi University (Finland) on the design of mechanisms for the participation of minorities, indigenous peoples and its impact on conflict prevention. 

• Participated in initiatives for the promotion of housing and property rights of displaced persons in Serbia (with the Danish Refugee Council). 

• Volunteered with the Spanish Association of Solidarity with the Migrant Worker and advocated for migrant rights in international fora; 

• From September 2008 until September 2009, studied an L.L.M. (Magister Legum) in Peace Support Operations (Irish Center for Human Rights, National University of Ireland at Galway).

From January 2007 until August 2008: 

CHIEF OF SECTION (Housing and Property Rights), OSCE Mission in Kosovo - UN Mission in Kosovo Pillar III- (Pristina, Kosovo). 

• Developed policies aimed at ensuring better human rights protection (with a focus on housing and property rights) and promoting democratisation processes at central and local levels (e.g., "You are displaced: your rights are not"); 

• Planned, supervised and managed the work of a programmatic section (6 national/4 international staff members); mobilised resources in support of the Section’s programme; 

• Supervised project management and financial matters using Performance Based Programme Budgeting as well as Prince2 guidelines;

• Developed and implemented public information campaigns (e.g., "Illegal occupation is not a solution"), monitoring projects and training for international and local authorities;

• Co-ordinated and facilitated with the government the implementation of the housing and property rights component of the ‘Standards for Kosovo’ plan;

• Provided comments on draft legislation and liaised with special rapporteurs and other relevant counterparts in the context of the transition process;

• Closely co-operated with the Ombudsperson Institution in Kosovo; 

• Represented OMiK’s Human Rights Department before regional international and local interlocutors, as well as media.

From January 2005 until December 2006: 

SENIOR HUMAN RIGHTS ADVISER, OSCE Mission in Kosovo; Mission Headquarters, Pristina, Kosovo. 

• Managed a Property Rights unit from a staffing, financial and programmatic perspective; 

• Advocated for a strengthened human rights culture in the central and municipal civil administration (focused on displacement, Roma and other minorities and property rights);

• Developed strategies to improve access to justice of displaced persons and other vulnerable groups (e.g., Strategy for the Reduction of Judicial Property Backlogs); 

• Developed and implemented capacity building programmes for civil servants to increase their human rights compliance;

• Drafted legal analytical reports on the human rights situation in Kosovo and comments on legislation;

• Contributed to the drafting of the Technical Assessments on Standards Implementation of the UN Mission in Kosovo (a component of the reports of the Secretary General to the UN Security Council);  

• Supervised the drafting of a Manual on Property Rights for Human Rights Advisers and Monitors and implemented a training programme.

• Liaised with international actors in identifying lessons applicable to other jurisdictions (e.g., Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, Irak). 

From November 2002 until December 2004:

HUMAN RIGHTS OFFICER, Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe – Mission in Kosovo; OSCE Office in Mitrovica, Kosovo. 

• Monitored developments on the ground and developed policy recommendations aimed at improving the protection of human rights; housing, land and property rights and the rights of minorities; 

• Developed and implemented projects aimed at confidence building and the protection of displaced persons. 

• Co-organized a regional roundtable on the regularisation of informal housing settlements;  

• Contributed to the drafting of various public reports concerning issues such as property rights, parallel governmental structures and other developments (e.g., ‘Human Rights Challenges After the March 2004 Riots’).

CIVIL REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION OFFICER, United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), United Nations Volunteers. 

• Implemented civil registration and elections for the inhabitants of the Timorese sub-district of Bobonaro; 

• Conducted a civic education campaign; 

• Supervised a team of local staff;  

• Liaised with international security forces, UN civil administration and local leaders.

From October 1999 until December 2000:

CIVIL AFFAIRS OFFICER, United Nations Interim Administration in Kosovo (UNMIK), United Nations Volunteers. Mitrovica (Kosovo). 

• Ensured the interim administration of a Municipality in Northern Kosovo (Zubin Potok, Mitrovica) pending elections;

• Implemented an Emergency Financial Assistance Programme, including its financial and budget supervision aspects;

• Conducted civil registration and elections, in co-operation with the OSCE.

From June 1996 until October 1999:

JOURNALIST (Press), ABC (Spanish daily newspaper), Europa Press (national news network).

• Drafted articles and news for the Spanish media.

• Special correspondent in Kosovo. Correspondent in Puerto Rico, Democratic Republic of Congo and India. 

OSCE FIELD ASSESSMENTS (LEAD ROLE)

• OSCE – Expropriations in Kosovo (2006); 

• Eight Years After – Minority Returns and Housing and Property Restitution in Kosovo (2007); You are displaced, your rights are not. Compendium on Property Restitution and Solutions to Displacement in Kosovo during Transition (2008).

OSCE FIELD ASSESSMENTS (SUPPORT ROLE): 

• OSCE/UNHCR - 10th^th Assessment on the Protection of Minorities in Kosovo (2002); 

• Property Rights in Kosovo (2002-2003);

• Parallel Structures in Kosovo (2003); 

• Human Rights Challenges After the March 2004 Riots; Parallel Structures in Kosovo (2005); 

• Assessment on the Protection of Serb Orthodox Cultural Heritage in light of the Status Proposal (2007).   

RECENT  ACADEMIC PUBLICATIONS

• "Language Diversity Speaking to Autonomy: Exploring the Relations between Minority Language Education and Autonomy", 66 Revista de Llengua i Dret/Journal of Language Law, December 2016.
• "Making Home Rules for Mother Tongues: The Legal Implications of Linguistic Diversity in the Design of Autonomy Regimes". Åbo Akademi University, 2015, ISBN 978-952-12-3242-8. 
• 'Weaving Miskito and Mestizo Imaginations: The Atlantic Coast Autonomy of Nicaragua'. In: Salat, Levente - Constantin, Sergiu - Osipov, Alexander - Székely, István Gergő (eds.) Autonomy Arrangements around the World: A Collection of Well and Lesser Known Cases, 85-111. Cluj-Napoca: Romanian Institute for Research on National Minorities (Series: Documenta et Studia Minoritatum). ISBN: 978-606-8377-30-8.

•  ‘Good Neighbourliness as a Limit to Extra-Territorial Citizenship: The Case of Hungary and Slovakia’, forthcoming in D. Kochenov and E. Basheska (eds) Good Neighbourly Relations in the European Legal Context (Brill Nijhoff, 2015). 
  
  [Book review] Arzoz, Xabier: Bilingual Higher Education in the Legal Context. Group Rights, State Policies and Globalisation, Leiden 2012. 7(2) European Journal on Minority Issues -  Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen (2014), 154–162.
•  'Language Policies in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Kosovo and Macedonia. Different paths towards Separate Roads: the Language Education Policies resulting from the Ohrid, Ahtisaari and Dayton Comprehensive Agreements', 7 (1) European Journal on Minority Issues -  Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen (2014), 8–29.

• 'From the "right to decide" to the "duty to negotiate" and back: The Catalonian bid for independence in domestic and international perspective', 6(2) European Journal on Minority Issues (Europäisches Journal für Minderheitenfragen) (2013), 101–118. 

• ‘Calibrating cultural lenses: Socio-economic participation, identity and migration policy shifts’, in K. Henrard (eds.), The Inter-Relation between the Right to Identity of Minorities and hteir Socio-Economic Participation, Brill, 2013.

• ‘A Lesson to the West: The Human Rights Legitimacy of the Arab Spring Protesters’, Peace and Human Rights/Pace Diritti Umani, 3/2011;

• ‘Squaring Indigenous Circles: The Making of Nicaragua's Indigenous Communal Property Regime’ International Journal on Minority and Group Rights, Volume 19, Number 1, 2012 , 69–103(35);

• ‘Blueprints for Babel: Legal Policy Options for Minority and Indigenous Languages’, 17(1) European Journal of Public Law (2011), 111–138;

• ´Displaced Kosovo Roma and Property Rights´, 32 Forced Migration Review, April 2009, co-authored with Linda Öhman; 

• ´Getting the Property Questions Right: Legal Policy Dilemmas in Property Restitution in Kosovo (1999-2009), 21 (3) International Journal on Refugee Law, 421–452, co-authored with Massimo Moratti;

• 'Serb Participation in the Provisional Institutions of Self-Government of Kosovo', (E.MA. Awarded Thesis), Marsilio Editore, 2002. 

Active participation in conferences:

November 2017, Inaugural Meeting of the Statelessness Network of Asia Pacific (SNAP), Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. 


                  March 2015, New Perspectives in European Studies: Europeanisation in the EU and the Neighbourhood, UACES Collaborative Research Network, Queen's University, Belfast.


December 2014 – Protecting Kurdistan’s Diversity – USIP and PAX, Erbil (Iraq).  

June 2014 - Property, Cultural Heritage and Investment in Jus Post Bellum. Grotius Center for International Legal Studies. Peace Palace, The Hague, The Netherlands.

March 2013 – Workshop on Autonomy - Åbo Akademi & University of Bochum (Bochum, Germany). 

December 2012 – III International Conference on Language Rights, Inclusion and the Prevention of Ethnic Conflicts (Chiang Mai, Thailand, December 2012). Presentation: "Conflict prevention v. integration? Language rights in post-conflict societies". 

January 2012– Human rights and the Arab Spring, Zorba Forum, 13 January 2012, "Derechos Humanos de Oriente a Occidente: El soplo cálido de la primavera Árabe sobre el invierno intelectual europeo". 

November 2011–EU/UNHCR/HCNM, Conference on the Provision of Civil Status Documentation and Registration in South Eastern Europe (Zagreb, 26–27 October 2011), "Zagreb Declaration" (co-drafted with UNHCR). 

August 2011– "4 or More Languages for All, Minority Languages in the Nordic Countries", Faroe Islands. Paper on “Nationalism, horizontal obligations and language laws”.

November 2010 – IKV Pax Christi (Brussels, Belgium)– Property Restitution in Kosovo. 

November 2010– Government of Slovakia, Deputy Minister for Human Rights and Minorities – Language and Identity - Rights of the National Minorities in Slovakia and Europe, Bratislava 24 November 2010. "Minority language rights: ideas and norms". 

October 2010– Minority Rights Network (University of Rotterdam): The socio-economic participation of minorities in relation to their right to respect for identity. Paper on “Of power and words: integration and conflict prevention”. 

October 2009– Danish Refugee Council-Belgrade– "The Way Forward, Housing and Property Restitution for Displaced Persons". Presented a paper on ¨Human Rights Promises and Political Realities: the Design of Property Restitution Mechanisms after Ethnic Conflicts¨. 

November 2007–  OSCE Mission in Kosovo – You Are Displaced, Your Rights are Not (OSCE Kosovo). Paper on “You are displaced your rights are not”. 

October 2007 Center for Housing Rights and Evictions (COHRE) – Housing and Property Restitution in Sri Lanka – Learning from Other Jurisdictions. Paper on “Strategies to Operationalize the Rights of Refugees and Displaced Persons to Return and Recover their Possessions”. 

August 2007 – U.S Department of State – Seminar on Property Restitution and Displacement – Presentation: Housing and property restitution for refugees and displaced persons from Kosovo. Standards, challenges & lessons learnt. 

Blogs

<http://mantasdance.blogspot.com.es/> (personal blog)

<http://mojitoetniko.blogspot.com.es/> (a blog on multiculturalism)

Art-related work

- The Blue Bridge Band (multi-ethnic band in Kosovo): 
<http://www.blue-bridge-band.com/> 

- The 100 Watt (rock band, The Netherlands): 
<https://www.facebook.com/pages/100-Watts/173217966058636?sk=info> 

- Por Mas Amor al Arte (alternative arts promotion initiative, Madrid): 
<https://www.facebook.com/groups/447609068635115/?fref=ts>