NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF COSTA RICA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS TO THE DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS OFFICE AT GENEVA

Catalina Devandas Aguilar, the new Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented her credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Since 1 December 2014, Ms. Devandas Aguilar had been serving as United Nations Human Rights Council Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities. From January 2011 to December 2014, she was a programme officer for strategic partnerships at the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund, Boston-Madrid. From January 2009 to December 2010, she was a programme officer for Latin America, the Middle East and the North Africa Region at the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund.

In 2009, Ms. Devandas Aguilar was an Associate Officer for Social Affairs at the Secretariat for the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities at the United Nations Department of Economic and Social Affairs in New York. In 2007, she was part of the Equality Programme Team of the International Centre for the Legal Protection of Human Rights in London. She was a World Bank disability and inclusive development consultant for the Latin American and Caribbean region in Washington DC from October 2004 to September 2006. From 2002 to August 2004, she was the Legal Advisor of the University of Costa Rica Research Foundation in San Jose.

Ms. Devandas Aguilar followed the master programme in fundamental rights at the University Carlos III in Madrid in 2006 and 2007. She also followed the master programme in interdisciplinary disability studies at the University of Costa Rica, from 2002 to 2004. She has a Licentiate in Law, Notary Public and bachelor of Law from the University of Costa Rica (1999). Born on 24 September 1975, Ms. Devandas Aguilar is married.

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