Catalina Devandas-Aguilar

[Image Description: Gold centered text on a black background with gold confetti reads, “The D-30 Disability Impact List. Below, centered black text in a gold box reads, “2020 Honoree”. Below, left, white centered text reads, “Catalina Devandas-Aguilar”. Below, centered in a gold box, black text reads, “Costa Rica”. To the right, a color headshot of Catalina with a white outline. In the bottom left corner, the white Diversability logo with “#D30DisList” centered below in white text.]

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Catalina Devandas-Aguilar (she/her)

Special Rapporteur, United Nations OHCHR

Costa Rica

As Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities, Ms. Devandas brings the rights of persons with disabilities to the forefront of the international human rights agenda, including at the United Nations. Through her thematic reports (e.g., social protection, legal capacity, health) to the General Assembly and the Human Rights Council, she guides States on how to implement these rights in practice, resulting in enhanced protection for rights-holders with disabilities. Over the last year, Ms. Devandas actively contributed to strengthen system-wide accessibility, inclusion and mainstreaming of the rights of persons with disabilities in the United Nations, which led the UN Secretary General to adopt the United Nations Disability Inclusion Strategy in 2019. In March-May 2020, she issued public guidance for States on disability-specific considerations in the context of the COVID-19, to ensure people with disabilities would not be left behind in State responses to the pandemic.