Marian Da Silva is the Deputy Director of the TrialWatch Project at Columbia Law School’s Human Rights Institute. She supports the implementation of TrialWatch’s global strategy by overseeing international trial-monitoring initiatives and managing its network of law school clinics and university partners. Working with clinical teams, civil society organizations, and international human rights mechanisms, she coordinates monitoring and advocacy in cases involving fair-trial and freedom-of-expression violations, including the criminalization of journalists, human rights defenders, and political dissent.

Before joining the Human Rights Institute, Da Silva worked in international human rights law, strategic litigation, and advocacy. As a lawyer with Defiende Venezuela and the Venezuelan Observatory for Crimes Against Humanity, she represented victims of arbitrary detention, extrajudicial execution, torture, and other serious human rights violations before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the United Nations, and the International Criminal Court. She also served as Deputy Secretary of the OAS Panel of Independent International Experts investigating crimes against humanity in Venezuela, contributing to high-level investigations, legal analysis, and reporting.

As an inaugural Anthony Lester Fellow at Bard College, Da Silva developed an initiative supporting human rights defenders in Venezuela, Trinidad and Tobago, Bolivia, Nicaragua, El Salvador and Cuba. She has trained more than 200 defenders worldwide on international human rights mechanisms, strategic advocacy, and public speaking, with a particular focus on women, journalists, LGBTQ+ communities, and other groups facing heightened risks. She is also the co-author of Pathway to Freedom: Handbook for the Liberation of Political Prisoners, a practical guide for advocates seeking the release of people detained on political grounds.

Da Silva holds an LL.M. in Human Rights Law, with a special concentration in International Law, from University College London, where she studied as a Chevening Scholar and graduated with honors. At UCL, Da Silva was actively involved in the PIL Pro Bono Project, conducting research on discriminatory torture and the protection of vulnerable groups.