Ilva Myriam Hoyos Castañeda

Ilva Myriam Hoyos Castañeda holds a degree in Law and a Doctorate in Jurisprudence from the Universidad Colegio Mayor de Nuestra Señora del Rosario, as well as a Doctorate in Law from the University of Navarra, Spain. She has also completed studies in human rights at the Complutense University of Madrid and the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights in Costa Rica.

In the public sector, she served as the Delegate Inspector for the Defense of the Rights of Children, Adolescents, and the Family between 2009 and 2016. Previously, she was Head of the Legal Office at Inravisión and Assistant to the Deputy Inspector General of the Nation (Viceprocuraduría General de la Nación). She has also served as an ad hoc judge (conjuez) of the Council of State.

Her professional career has been closely linked to higher education. At the Universidad de La Sabana, she served as Dean of the Faculty of Law, Director of the Institute of Humanities, and Director of the Legal Research Center, in addition to working as a full professor and researcher. She also directed the academic journals Pensamiento y Cultura and Díkaion. She has taught at the universities of Rosario, La Gran Colombia, Los Andes, Santo Tomás, and Externado de Colombia, and has carried out academic activities at international institutions.

In the field of academic evaluation and research, she served as a peer reviewer for the Ministry of National Education and as an evaluating peer for Colciencias.

Her intellectual work includes books, articles, and specialized publications on human rights, human dignity, constitutional law, bioethics, religious freedom, and the rights of children and families. Among her main publications are: De la dignidad y de los derechos humanos. Una introducción al pensar analógico (On Dignity and Human Rights: An Introduction to Analogical Thinking), La persona y sus derechos. Consideraciones bioético-jurídicas (The Person and Their Rights: Bioethical-Legal Considerations), El derecho de libertad religiosa en la Constitución de 1991 (The Right to Religious Freedom in the 1991 Constitution), and El concepto jurídico de persona (The Legal Concept of Person).

She has carried out academic and institutional activities in national and international forums. She served as an advisor to the Pontifical Council for the Family, the Latin American and Caribbean Episcopal Council (CELAM), and the Episcopal Conference of Colombia. She participated as a lay expert in the V General Conference of the Latin American Episcopate, held in Aparecida (Brazil), and as an auditor in the First Synod of the Family, held in Vatican City.

In the field of abuse and violence prevention, she was a member of the National Council for the Protection of Minors and Vulnerable Persons and presided for over seven years over the National Council for the Culture of Care of the Episcopal Conference of Colombia. She was also a founding member of the Latin American Council CEPROME Latin America.

Throughout her career, she was nominated to the Council of State's shortlist for Magistrate of the Constitutional Court in 2000, the shortlist for Ombudsperson (Defensora del Pueblo) in 2004, and the presidential shortlist for Magistrate of the Constitutional Court in 2007.

In September 2026, she was appointed Minister of National Education, leading the National Government's policies and actions aimed at strengthening education in Colombia.