Profile
Thesis title
Is the concept of structural discrimination used by the Inter-American Court of Human Rights useful to address poverty?
Supervisors
Summary of research
This thesis examines how the Inter-American Court of Human Rights has employed the concept of structural discrimination in cases involving poverty and socio-economic vulnerability. While the Court has increasingly linked poverty with patterns of structural discrimination, the conceptual boundaries and legal implications of this relationship remain underdeveloped. The thesis analyses the Court’s jurisprudence to identify when and how structural discrimination is used to characterise poverty-related human rights violations, to ground findings under Articles 1(1) and 24 of the American Convention on Human Rights, and to justify structural forms of reparation. It then evaluates whether this approach enables the Court to address poverty in a meaningful and normatively coherent manner and assesses its added value and limitations in comparison with alternative strategies, including direct reliance on economic and social rights. The thesis combines doctrinal analysis, systematic examination of case law, and engagement with equality theory and international human rights scholarship.
Biography
Stefania Rainaldi is a PhD candidate in Public Law at Queen Mary University of London and a Graduate Teaching Assistant in Public Law. She is a Uruguayan-qualified lawyer with professional experience in international human rights law. She has worked as a consultant for UNICEF, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, UN Women, the United Nations Population Fund (UNFPA), and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. She also teaches Human Rights in judicial training programmes at the Centre for Judicial Studies in Uruguay. Her research interests include structural discrimination, equality and non-discrimination, poverty as a human rights issue, socio-economic rights, gender equality, and comparative public law.
Publications
- Giudice Graña, Lucía and Rainaldi Redon, Stefania, “The notions of women’s ‘economic autonomy’ and ‘collective life project’: conceptual disputes and legal challenges in the Inter-American Human Rights System”, Revista IUS ET VERITAS, No. 70 (2025) (co-authored).
- Parra Vera, Oscar and Rainaldi Redon, Stefania, “The right to comprehensive sexual education: comments on the Case of Guzmán Albarracín before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights”, Instituto de Estudios Constitucionales del Estado de Querétaro, Mexico (2025) (co-authored).
- Rainaldi, Stefania, “Structural discrimination in relation to economic status in the Inter-American Human Rights System”, IberICONnect Blog (2024).
- Co-author, The 2023 Global Review of Constitutional Law (2024).
- Co-author, The 2025 Global Review of Constitutional Law (2025).
- Rainaldi Redon, Stefania, “Introduction to Human Rights Law”, in Constitución y Estado de Derecho (Montevideo, 2023).
Public Engagement
Stefania has presented at international academic conferences and workshops, including ICONS (2023, 2024, 2025), the Berkeley Center on Comparative Equality and Anti-Discrimination Law Annual Conference (2024, 2025), and Queen Mary PhD Law conferences (2023, 2024, 2025). She is co-founder of the Socio-Economic Inequalities Research Group. She is a member of the Max Planck Institute–ICCAL Collaboration Lab and contributes to policy-oriented discussions and public panels on access to justice, equality, and non-discrimination in Latin America.