Natalia Ruiz Morato (Ph.D.)

From 01 July 2020 until 31 December 2022 Dr. Natalia Ruiz Morato perceived her research as an Alexander von Humboldt Postdoctoral Fellow of the Alexander-von-Humboldt Foundation at the Institute of Agricultural Law of the Georg-August-University Göttingen.

Prior to that, she was a Residential Fellow at the Wilson Center in Washington, DC. In Colombia, she was Associate Professor at LaSalle University and a lecturer at several other universities, and an independent consultant in law and development for public and private institutions, on issues related to international development, ethnic and indigenous rights, and social and environmental justice. She has published several academic papers and book chapters on these topics.

She holds a Ph.D. in Law from the National University of Colombia and earned her M.A. in International Studies from Korea University.
She is also a member of the Pax Ruralis research group between Göttingen University and Colombia’s National University.

Her current research work, “an agrarian adjudication theory for small farmers and indigenous populations in Colombia”, focuses on aspects of rural reform in Colombian following the 2016 Peace Accord. There is a clear and urgent need to construct an agrarian legal theory for transitional justice and the prospective agrarian jurisdiction, in order to avoid the perpetuation of land conflicts and ensure the fulfilment of human rights of subsistence farmers and ethnic communities, which are the poorest and most vulnerable populations in Colombia.

The goal of this research project is to help overcome the current civil adjudication of agrarian problems in Colombia. Formulating an agrarian legal adjudication theory will enable Colombian judges to improve their decisions in agrarian disputes, and will offer a solid basis for the proposed new agrarian jurisdiction as set out in the Peace Accord. Beyond the Colombian scenario, an agrarian adjudication theory would represent an important advancement of legal knowledge for land distribution for subsistence farmers and ethno-communities in developing countries.