DVV
Damaris Vargas Vásquez
Costa Rica
Vice President Judge
Biography
Damaris María Vargas Vásquez is a Magistrate of the First Chamber and Vice President of the Supreme Court of Justice in Costa Rica. She coordinates the Judicial Branch’s Access to Justice Commission, where she promotes policies and projects aimed at ensuring inclusive, efficient, and sustainable access to justice for all.
With over thirty years of judicial experience, she has led initiatives focused on equity and innovation in justice administration, paying particular attention to vulnerable groups, native communities, and people with disabilities. She directs institutional policies on Access to Justice for Native People and on Equal Opportunities for People with Disabilities.
Dr Vargas Vásquez holds doctoral studies in Law, a Master’s degree in Business Administration, and specialisations in Constitutional Justice, Agrarian Law, and Project Management. For more than a decade, she has taught Environmental and Agrarian Law at the Universidad Escuela Libre de Derecho, contributing to the development of strategic judicial governance and institutional efficiency.
Internationally, she represents Costa Rica’s Judicial Branch in Ibero-American forums on environmental justice and human rights. She has participated in social inclusion programmes led by the Organisation of American States (OAS) and the Ibero-American Network of Public Defenders (REDESCA). A frequent speaker at national and international forums, her expertise spans access to justice for native peoples, environmental justice, restorative justice, and human rights protection, including the implementation of the Escazú Agreement.
She is author of specialised books and articles, co-editor of the Agrarian Procedural Code, and served as technical advisor on the Draft Law on Access to Justice for Native Communities, both enacted into national law.
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