Founder of the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). Ambassador João Clemente Baena Soares (in memoriam), served as Secretary General of Foreign Affairs of Brazil (1979-1984). Between 1984 and 1994, he was Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS). He is founding president of the Latin American Institute of Education.

With a bachelor's degree in law from the Pontifical Catholic University of Rio de Janeiro (PUC-RJ), Ambassador João Clemente Baena Soares was elected in 2009 to the Inter-American Juridical Committee (IAJC) of the OAS. For his recognized work as a jurist at the Commission on Human Rights of the United Nations (UN), in 2006 he was appointed to the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change.

He holds an honorary doctorate from the Federal University of Pará and the University of Quebec in Canada.