Kelen Meregali is the Special Assistant to the Executive Director at ICTJ. With over 18 years of experience in human rights and transitional justice, she provides substantive advice and direct support to the Executive Director in overseeing ICTJ’s global work. In 2018, she led ICTJ’s Nepal Office in Kathmandu.
Kelen joined ICTJ in January 2011, initially working in Brazil, where she coordinated a project in partnership with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to strengthen the capacity of government officials, civil society leaders, prosecutors, and other stakeholders in Latin America. She later served as an Associate in ICTJ’s Truth and Memory Program at headquarters in New York, providing support and advice to truth seeking initiatives in a variety of countries to advance the right to truth. From 2014 to 2018, she served as Senior Program Manager at ICTJ, overseeing financial, administrative, operational, and programmatic processes across ICTJ’s programs and offices.
Prior to joining ICTJ, Kelen worked at the Amnesty Commission of the Brazilian Ministry of Justice, where she supported national efforts related to truth, memory, reparations, education, and memorialization. During this time, she was part of a team that helped strengthen and reorganize the Truth Commission and designed and implemented the Commission’s innovative “Amnesty Caravan” outreach program throughout Brazil, which raised public awareness of the national reparations program and related public policies.
In 2014, Kelen was awarded a fellowship with the Alliance for Historical Dialogue and Accountability Program at Columbia University’s Institute for the Study of Human Rights. She received her law degree from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio Grande do Sul in 2007, holds a postgraduate degree in International Law from the Superior School for Federal Prosecutors, and earned a master’s degree in Development Management from The Open University in 2022.
