Human Rights Advocates Program

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Our Advocates

Since 1989, more than 350 advocates from 100 countries have attended the program. HRAP participants have ranged from early-career advocates who cut their teeth in very urgent human rights situations to mid-career advocates who have founded organizations. HRAP alumni have served as UN special rapporteurs, in the ministries of their governments, and at leading human rights organizations around the globe. They have been recognized with honors including the Rafto Prize, the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award and the Martin Ennals Award for Human Rights Defenders, the highest acknowledgment from the international human rights community.

Below are the biographies of current Advocates and descriptions by select alumni as to why they became human rights advocates.

To see a list of additional past Advocates click here.

To read about more about the work of our Advocates click here .

All years

Carolina Quinteros, 2004

El Salvador

Carolina Quinteros

El Salvador, 2004

Director for the Collective Labor Action project , Panamerican Development Foundation (PADF)

“Commitment, love and dedication.” These words have become Carolina Quinteros’ dogma in her 20 years of incredibly impressive social policy work.

Driven by a deep concern and desire to impart social change in her home country of El Salvador, Carolina Quinteros joined HRAP in 2004 after serving as executive director of Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente de El Salvador (GMIES) for seven years. Since its inception in 1996, Quinteros had been devotedly working at GMIES, an organization dedicated to monitoring and improving labor conditions in the manufacturing industry. She currently works as the Director for the Collective Labor Action project at the Panamerican Development Foundation.

During her time at Columbia University, Quinteros gained valuable skills that would allow her to continue working towards her admirable cause. On a personal level, she was inspired through sharing the experience of lobbying and raising awareness with her fellow advocates, who were just as motivated and as passionate as she was. Even more importantly, she found herself impressed and excited by the visibility that her organization was gaining as she was able to tap into the vast network afforded by the HRAP program.

Today, Quinteros continues in her endeavor to create safer, more just labor conditions for maquila workers in El Salvador. Her years of commendable work have taught her that it is “a job you take with you wherever you go”; in other words, it is her ability to put her heart into her work that has kept her motivated to effect social change.

“Compromiso, amor y dedicación.” Esta frase se ha convertido en inspiración para Carolina Quinteros en sus veinte años de servicio social.

Motivada por una preocupación profunda y un deseo de crear cambio social en su país de origen, El Salvador, Carolina Quinteros participó en HRAP durante el 2004 después de haber servido como directora ejecutiva para el Grupo de Monitoreo Independiente de El Salvador (GMIES) por siete años. Desde su comienzo en 1996, Quinteros había estado trabajando apasionadamente por GMIES, una organización dedicada al monitoreo y el mejoramiento de las condiciones laborales en la industria manufacturera. Actualmente, Quinteros es laDirectora de Acción Colectiva Laboral la Fundacion Panamericana para el Desarollo.

En la universidad de Columbia, Quinteros adquirió destrezas valiosas que le ayudarían a seguir su admirable trabajo. Personalmente, se sintió inspirada al compartir la experiencia de cabildeo y levantamiento de conciencia con sus colegas, que eran tan apasionados y estaban tan motivados como ella. Más importante aún fue la impresión que le causó la visibilidad que su organización estaba ganando gracias a la red de contactos profesionales ofrecida por el programa HRAP.

Actualmente, Quinteros continua con su esfuerzo para crear condiciones más seguras y justas para las trabajadoras de la maquila en El Salvador. Sus años de encomiable trabajo le han enseñado que ese es “un empleo que requiere atención afuera de la oficina; te persigue por toda la vida.” En otras palabras, es la habilidad de dedicarse completamente a ese esfuerzo lo que le ha mantenido su nivel de motivación para poder efectuar cambios sociales.