Gina Romero, a Colombian national, was appointed United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and of Association in April 2024.
Before her appointment, Romero co-founded and served for nearly a decade as Executive Director of the Latin American and Caribbean Network for Democracy (Redlad), where she acted as Secretariat of the Civil Society Pillar of the Community of Democracies. She has engaged with governments, civil society, academia, and the private sector in over fifty countries across the Americas, Europe, Africa, and Asia.
Romero has coordinated actions before the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, advocated for citizen participation in intergovernmental organizations such as the OAS, and facilitated input from Latin American social actors to UN mechanisms. Over the past fifteen years, she has overseen the production of numerous reports, including Universal Periodic Reviews, alerts on civic space and democracy backsliding, and a regional report on police repression during the COVID-19 pandemic.
An expert in governance, anticorruption, and youth participation, Romero has also worked as an international consultant and guest professor at Columbia and Externado Universities.
She holds a degree in government and international relations from Externado University in Colombia and a master’s diploma in contemporary political, economic, and international affairs from IHEAL–Sorbonne Nouvelle (Paris 3) and Externado University.
Romero was an event speaker at the Dialogue.
