Milburn Line

Milburn Line joined the IPJ in August 2009, following more than 15 years of work in international missions and projects, principally in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Colombia and Guatemala, as well as shorter periods in Africa, China, Latin America and the Middle East. His range of experience, from working with local communities, human rights defenders and refugees to international missions and national authorities at the highest levels, shapes his vision for peace and justice initiatives that will attempt to connect the IPJ from local scenarios through to advocacy efforts at a policy level. He will work with the Joan B. Kroc School of Peace Studies to integrate efforts by the institute, school, university and greater San Diego community in the promotion of peace and justice initiatives worldwide.

Line most recently served as director of a $37 million human rights program in Colombia funded by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID), a project designed to prevent and respond to human rights abuses and protect vulnerable groups, as well as support civil society organizations to monitor human rights and public policies and advocate for victims’ rights to truth, justice and reparations.

Prior to his work in Colombia, Line worked with the Club of Madrid, an organization of former heads of state and government that addresses democratization challenges with national authorities at the highest levels. From 2001 to 2004, Line was the director of a USAID-funded Human Rights and Reconciliation Program in Guatemala. During the 1990s he worked with the Office of the High Representative and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Bosnia and Herzegovina; the United Nations Human Rights Verification Mission in Guatemala; Catholic Relief Services and the Columbia University Center for the Study of Human Rights.

Line holds a master’s degree in International Affairs from Columbia University and a B.A. with Highest Distinction from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, and has done coursework at Wai Jiao Xue Yuan (Foreign Affairs College) in China and Universidad de Sevilla in Spain.