Catalina Devandas Aguilar

Catalina Devandas Aguilar currently serves as Senior Director for the Office of Partnerships, Advocacy and Communications at the International Organization for Migration, while also serving on the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees. Her remarkable career spans over two decades of disability rights advocacy, shaped by her personal experience with spina bifida. After earning her law degree from the University of Costa Rica and pursuing master's studies at both University Carlos III in Madrid and the University of Costa Rica, she has held numerous influential positions in international development. Her groundbreaking work includes serving as the first UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities from 2014 to 2020, where she championed socioeconomic inclusion and the promotion of full citizenship for persons with disabilities. Her extensive experience includes roles at the World Bank, the UN Department of Economic and Social Affairs, the Disability Rights Fund, and the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights in London. As Costa Rica's Ambassador to the United Nations and through her various leadership positions, she continues to advance disability rights and inclusive development globally, focusing on understanding disability as part of human diversity and promoting comprehensive human rights approaches.