Bio
Irene Victoria Massimino (imassimi@iu.edu) is a lawyer specializing in international criminal law and human rights. She graduated from the Faculty of Legal and Social Sciences at the National University of La Plata, Argentina; she holds a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Law from the Indiana University McKinneySchool of Law, United States of America, where she is temporarily residing to pursue her Doctorate in Juridical Sciences in international criminal law and serve as an adjunct professor. She also holds a Master of Arts in Human Rights from the School of Advanced Study, University of London, United Kingdom.
Massimino served as a Rapporteur for the Criminal Cassation Court of the Province of Buenos Aires, Argentina, where she focused on cases of institutional violence, police brutality, and gender-based violence, many of which became landmark jurisprudence and gained international recognition for their contribution to human rights. In this role, she was part of the Provincial Debate Roundtable addressing the emergency situation in the Buenos Aires Penitentiary System. Her most notable work highlighted the need and obligation to apply legal interpretation from a gender perspective, which earned one of her draft rulings a nomination for the “Judgment Award for the Right of Access to Justice of Migrants and Persons under International Protection,” granted by UNHCR and other governmental and non-governmental organizations.
She works actively in the field of internal and international conflicts, human rights violations, and atrocity crimes—especially genocide—regarding the experiences of Argentina, Armenia, Artsakh (Nagorno-Karabakh), Chile, Colombia, Guatemala, Iraq, Somaliland, and Ukraine. She has served in international fact-finding delegations, trial observation missions, and provides legal consultancy services in different regions of the world.
Throughout her career, she has received numerous awards and recognitions for her work and commitment. Among the most relevant: in 2014, Irene Massimino was selected as one of the Ten Outstanding Young Persons (TOYP) of Argentina in the category “Contribution to Children, World Peace and Human Rights,” awarded by Junior Chamber International (JCI) Argentina. In 2016, the same organization nominated her as an Outstanding Young Person for the 2016 JCI TOYP World Awards. In 2017, she received the Distinguished Graduate Award from the Indiana University McKinney School of Law in the United States. In 2023, the Center for Truth and Justice (CFTJ) awarded her the Truth Ambassador Prize in Armenia. Additionally, she has received several recognitions from communities worldwide, such as Iraqi Christians and Kurds.
In addition, Massimino is the Deputy Director of the Armenian Legal Defense Team; a member of the Armenian Bar Association, Armenia; a member of the Law and Society Association, U.S.; a member of the American Society of International Law, U.S.; a member of the Colombian Caravana (UK Lawyers Group), United Kingdom; a member of the American Association of Jurists (AAJ), the American branch of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, Argentina; and former Co-Secretary-Treasurer (2015–2017) and member of the Resolutions Committee (2017, 2019, 2019, 2021, 2021, 2023), and current Advisory Board member of the International Association of Genocide Scholars.
