Guillermo Whpei

Guillermo Pablo Whpei (Rosario, Argentina, May 2, 1967) is an Argentine social entrepreneur, the son of a family of Palestinian immigrants, internationally recognized for his commitment to human rights, the promotion of a culture of peace and the fight against modern slavery.

• President of Fundación para la Democracia.
• President of the International Museum for Democracy (Rosario, Argentina).
• President of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM).
• Former Latin America President of FIHRM-LA.

The International Museum for Democracy — the first privately run museum of its kind in the world — holds a collection of more than a thousand original historical objects related to the evolution of democratic systems. Under his leadership, the Foundation has developed numerous programs and agreements to strengthen civic participation, civic education and the defense of fundamental rights.

Speaking out about Qatar

Internationally, he has been an active voice in denouncing modern slavery. In 2017 he presented Pope Francis with the report “Behind the Passion”, an investigation into the conditions of the migrant workers who built the stadiums for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar. This work led him to promote a global campaign against labor exploitation in sport and to push for the abolition of the kafala system in Qatar, regarded as a modern form of servitude. That same year he led the public presentation of the report at Casa de América in Madrid, together with Rigoberta Menchú Tum and Lech Wałęsa.

A culture of peace

His commitment to peace led him to take part, at the invitation of Mikhail Gorbachev, in the 2017 World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates, which brought together 27 laureates to follow up on the peace process in Colombia. That same year he promoted the first bilateral cooperation agreement between British and Argentine cities since the Malvinas/Falklands conflict, which brought Rosario and Liverpool together in joint human rights work.

He created and hosted “Voy X La Paz”, an international gathering whose first edition (Rosario, 2017) brought together Nobel Peace Prize laureates Shirin Ebadi, Lech Wałęsa, Rigoberta Menchú Tum, Óscar Arias Sánchez and Adolfo Pérez Esquivel. The second edition took place in Montevideo in 2018, with Baltasar Garzón, Blanca Rodríguez, Rafael Pérez Taylor and Flor de María Meza Tananta, among others.

Fieldwork

He has promoted research and action on social issues in Argentina, such as the “Ver más allá” (Look further) program, aimed at improving the working conditions of rural workers in Salta, and a survey of the situation of the Qom community in Laguna Blanca, Formosa, together with Chief Félix Díaz. In academia, he promoted agreements with Argentina’s National Inter-University Council, the School of Political Science and International Relations of the National University of Rosario and the Canadian Studies Association to develop programs against modern slavery, including the “Libres” initiative.

In 2017 he hosted the annual conference of the Federation of International Human Rights Museums (FIHRM), which he now chairs, and in 2019 he led the regional meeting of its Latin American chapter (FIHRM-LA). In the cultural field he created the international traveling photography exhibition “Artículo 25” (Article 25), a visual reflection on the right to a dignified life.

Since 2019 he has been carrying out, together with Rigoberta Menchú Tum, the Solidarity and Fact-Finding Mission on the situation in Chile, in response to the human rights violations committed during the social protests. Both presented a report with the findings of their investigation to Pope Francis and to President Sebastián Piñera. That same year he launched a global campaign to ban the rubber and metal pellets used to repress demonstrations, denouncing the maimings and deaths they cause every year around the world.