Carmen Kcomt

State: California
Country of origin: Peru
Arrival in the U.S.: 2003

Carmen Kcomt is the Refugee Congress Delegate for California. She is a former asylum-seeker and is an attorney, member of the American Bar Association and former Magistrate from Peru. She served in the Judicial Power for 10 years as a Family and Juvenile Judge.

Kcomt holds a master’s degree in International Law of Human Rights and was a professor in two universities in Peru. She has also worked for United Nations-UNDP, supervising the compliance of the rights of the prisoners in the detention centers in the northern part of Peru.

Kcomt has been a guest lecturer at the University of San Diego. She was a volunteer with San Diego Volunteer Lawyer Program, and she has received the Manual Wiley Award for her work serving the poor. In 2014, she was awarded the Local Hero Hispanic Heritage by KPBS National Broadcast and has received the Distinguished Citizen Award by the San Diego County Bar Association and the Social Empowerment Award by University of California San Diego, Alliance for Empowerment and Women for Empowerment.

Kcomt is also a graduate of the FBI Citizens Academy and the District Attorney’s Citizens Academy. She is a prolific author, having written over 93 articles in newspapers in Peru, Los Angeles and San Diego, and has co-authored two textbooks regarding domestic violence and human rights for children

Today, she is Director of the Legal Advocacy and Social Department with La Maestra Community Health Centers, where she manages the largest program fighting International Human Trafficking in San Diego.