Sonia Picado is president of the board of the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights. From 1994 to 1998, Picado served as Costa Rica’s ambassador to the United States. She was elected a member of Costa Rica’s National Assembly in 1998 and represented San José until 2002.
Picado has been life-long advocate of international human rights. Between 1988 and 1994, she was a judge and vice-chair of the Inter-American Court of Human Rights. She has also served as a member of the Experts Committee for the Promotion of Human Rights in Central America, the Commission of European Communities, the International Commission for the Recovery and Development of Central America, and the International Commission of Inquiry on East Timor.
Notably, Picado was the first woman to be elected dean of the University of Costa Rica’s School of Law.
The Women’s Leadership Conference of the Americas (WLCA) is a hemispheric network of 100 outstanding women leaders who have decided to work together to: (1) expand the number and enhance the contribution of women in top leadership positions across Latin America and the Caribbean; (2) promote policy and institutional changes that will improve opportunities for all women in the region; and (3) strengthen other nongovernmental initiatives that advance women’s equality, and facilitate their access to policy officials.
