Catalina Devandas Aguilar


Catalina Devandas Aguilar is a Costa Rican lawyer and the incumbent United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. She has held the position since its creation in 2014. She has worked previously for the World Bank and took part in the establishment of the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities with the United Nations Secretariat. She has spina bifida and uses a wheelchair.

Career

Devandas-Aguilar began her career as an attorney in 1993, working as lawyer until 1999.
She has previously consulted for the World Bank and was part of the United Nations Secretariat that established the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities. In 2009, Ms. Devandas Aguilar began working for the Disability Rights Advocacy Fund and the Disability Rights Fund. In 2014, Aguilar was named the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities.
During her time as Special Rapporteur, she traveled to multiple countries to determine the conditions of people with disabilities. In 2016, Ms. Devandas Aguilar analyzed the status of people with disabilities in Zambia. After her visit, she recommended that Zambia should invest in disability rights and prevent violence against people with disabilities.
In 2017, she became the first member of the United Nations to be granted a visit to North Korea. After her trip to North Korea, she reported that she was prevented from meeting with several North Korean ministries. Her recommendations to North Korea included the stoppage of discriminatory language against North Koreans with disabilities and the creation of more accessible methods for deaf and blind North Koreans.