Hilda Morales Trujillo
Hilda Morales Trujillo is a lawyer in Guatemala who has become internationally known for her work in defending women's rights and as a campaigner for Guatemala's Network for Non-Violence Against Women. In 2004 she shared the Amnesty International Ambassador of Conscience Award with Mary Robinson. Background Trujillo was born in Ciudad Flores, Petén, Guatemala in 1943. She graduated in law from University of San Carlos of Guatemala in 1970. Many of her early cases involved domestic violence. After being appointed Professor of Family Law at the University of San Carlos she lectured for eight years in family law and on the need for law to provide legal protection for women and their children. In 1991 she was appointed a delegate to the National Women’s Office (ONAM). In 1993 after the coup d’etat, she was appointed Vice Minister for Work and Social Security, helping to establish the Unit for the Promotion of Women Workers. In 1994 Trujillo was involved in petitioning the Guatemalan state to ratify the Inter-American Convention for the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Violence Against Women. In 1996 she helped pass a law for the Prevention, Punishment and Eradication of Domestic Violence. In 1997 as part of the