Deputy general

Jordi Palou Loverdos is the deputy general of the Catalan ombudswoman since 3 February 2025. He assists and represents the ombudswoman in her absence. He has been associated with the Catalan Ombudsman institution since 2018, when he contributed to the diagnosis of the Human Rights Plan of Catalonia, focusing on the formulation of the right to truth, justice, reparation and guarantees of non-repetition, as well as the right to peace, alongside the Novact Institute of Nonviolence. In July 2024, he joined the institution as an advisor and director of the area of mediation/conciliation, restorative justice and adequate means of conflict resolution with a restorative perspective.

In terms of education, he holds a Master's degree in Criminal Law and Criminal Sciences and has doctorate studies in the same field from the University of Barcelona (thesis in progress). He also holds a Master's degree in Mediation and Conflict Resolution from the Ramon Llull University. He has lectured in the fields of human rights, mediation and peaceful conflict resolution at national and international universities, including the Paris Institute of Political Studies (Sciences Po), and has been a visiting professor at Rutgers University, New Jersey (Center for the Study of Genocide and Human Rights).

His professional career as a lawyer began in 1990, and he is accredited by both the Barcelona Bar Association (ICAB) and the International Criminal Bar. He is also accredited to practise before the International Criminal Court (The Hague, Netherlands). His expertise spans national criminal law (for both adults and minors), international criminal law (focusing on international crimes) and family and juvenile law. Additionally, he serves as a national and international consultant on specialised issues related to peace, justice and human rights. Over the last twenty-four years, he has participated in the universal justice process investigating international crimes committed in Rwanda and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, defending Catalan, Spanish, Rwandan and Congolese victims.

In parallel, he has worked as a conflict mediator since 1998 and is accredited by the Mediation Centre of Catalonia of the Generalitat (Catalan government). Through the creation of AEQUITAS - Mediation and Alternative Conflict Resolution Service Office, he has offered transformative and conflict-resolution services in numerous situations, mediating between individuals, groups and organisations. He was, for instance, the lead mediator of the Intra-Rwandan Dialogue political process (2004-2011). He has also served as a supervisor of restorative justice and public mediation of the Generalitat's juvenile criminal mediation team (2005-2011) and as a supervisor of mediators accredited by the Mediation Centre of Catalonia (2010-2011).

He was appointed Director General of the Democratic Memorial of the Generalitat (2011-2016) and is a member of the Parliament's Internal Information System (SIIP) of the Parliament of Catalonia (2023-2025), at the proposal of the Catalan ombudswoman.

His work has been recognized with several accolades, including the first prize for mediation by the Association of Conflict Mediation Professionals of Catalonia (ACDMA) for his essay Mediació en conflictes: vers un bumerang harmònic [Conflict Mediation: Towards a Harmonious Boomerang] (2003); the Special Jury Mention from the Office for the Promotion of Peace and Human Rights of the Generalitat (2010) for the publication Justícia internacional, pillatge de guerra, drets humans i multinacionals [International Justice, War Plunder, Human and International Rights]; the 2015 Valors Award from the Council of the Catalan Bar Association (CAC), awarded by the fourteen bar associations of the CAC, in recognition of his contributions to universal justice, conflict mediation and the peaceful resolution of disputes at national and international levels; and the 2022 ADR Justice Award, from the Catalan Ministry of Justice for the best initiative in mediation and alternative conflict resolution, for his restorative justice initiative within the Catalan memorial hearings on the Civil War and Franco dictatorship, for which he also received the 2023 Dignity Award.

In addition, he was a founding member of the Commission on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights and the Mediation Commission of the ICAB, member of the Historical Memory Commission of the ICAB, vice president of Novact, vice president of the Ficat Foundation, and director and member of the Board of Trustees of the Foundation for the Peace Charter addressed to the UN (2018-2024).

Lastly, he has collaborated with national and international media (television, radio and print) and is the author of books and articles specialising in human rights, universal justice, crimes against humanity, international humanitarian law, mediation and peaceful conflict resolution.

Contact details

Phone: 933 040 108 
E-mail: adgeneral@sindic.cat  

Appointment as Deputy general

Deputy for the Defence of Children's and Adolescents' Rights

Aida C. Rodríguez the Catalan Ombudsman’s Deputy for the Defence of Children's and Adolescents' Rights of since 18 April 2023. She assists the Catalan Ombudswoman and exercises the delegated powers for the protection of children and adolescents in accordance with the Convention on the Rights of the Child. Before taking up the position of Deputy, she was Director of the Social Rights Area of the institution.

She holds a Doctorate in Educational Sciences (cum laude), a Degree in Philosophy from the Ramon Llull University (URL), and a Master’s Degree in Citizenship and Human Rights from the University of Barcelona (UB).

Her doctoral thesis La justícia restaurativa: una transformació ètica de la justícia penal tradicional (Restorative Justice: an ethical transformation of traditional criminal justice) was awarded the ADR Justice Awards 2022 by the Department of Justice of the Catalan Government, through the Mediation Centre of Catalonia.

In the academic field, she has been Associate Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at La Salle, URL (2014-2022) and Professor of the Master’s Degree in Models and Strategies of Social and Educational Action in Childhood and Adolescence at the Faculty of Social Education and Social Work Pere Tarrés of the URL. She has also been a collaborating researcher at the Research Group on Innovation and Social Analysis (GIAS) of the same faculty (2015-2022), where she has worked mainly on issues related to human rights, restorative justice, criminal justice, education and ethics.

She has been the project manager of the Pere Tarrés Chair in Social and Restorative Justice (2016-2022), and previously she was the coordinator of activities of the Restorative Justice Group at ESADE Law School, URL (2014-2016).

She has also been a trainer at the Department of Education for management teams and teachers on restorative practices and the global restorative approach in primary and secondary education (2020-2022); she has a secondary school teaching qualification from the UB (2003) and has been a secondary school and baccalaureate teacher, mainly in the subjects of Catalan language, history and philosophy (2008-2013).

In 2007/2008 she was awarded a Leonardo da Vinci scholarship and spent time in Berlin, where she worked on issues related to political philosophy, American neo-conservatism and its reception of Platonism.

She was a founding member of the association Informa't Bcn! – Movement for Citizen Information (2011-2014), an association dedicated to the analysis of social issues through the organisation of conferences and the publication of articles.

Contact details

Phone: 935 538 458
E-mail: infancia@sindic.cat

Appointment as Deputy for the Defence of Children's and Adolescents' Rights (in Catalan)