Speaker: Mariano
Job title: Executive Director
Company: Derechos Humanos y Diversidad Asociación Civil

About the spreaker
Mariano Ruiz is the Founder and Executive Director of Derechos Humanos y Diversidad Asociación Civil, an LGBTQI+-led organization based in Argentina that works to protect and support the integration of LGBTQI+ refugees, asylum seekers, and forcibly displaced migrants, with a particular focus on SOGIESC, human mobility, and human rights. Based in Buenos Aires, Mariano leads programs providing direct assistance, legal accompaniment, access to healthcare and mental health services, Spanish language classes, interpretation, and community-based support for displaced LGBTQI+ people, particularly from Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, Kazakhstan, Georgia, Syria, Turkey, Venezuela, and other contexts of risk. He also promotes regional initiatives to strengthen grassroots LGBTQI+ organizations across Latin America and the Caribbean, including programs focused on strategic communications, human rights training, advocacy, and countering disinformation. He is a co-founder of the Regional Network on LGBTQI+ Human Mobility in Latin America and the Caribbean. Mariano has extensive experience working with international organizations, international cooperation, and civil society. He has worked or collaborated with organizations such as IOM, UNHCR, the World Bank, Rainbow Railroad, Equitas, RFSL, Dignity Network Canada, Fundación Huésped, and other international networks. He is an alumnus of the International Human Rights Training Program by Equitas, the International Visitor Leadership Program of the U.S. Department of State, the Human Rights Advocates Program at Columbia University, the Western Union Foundation Fellowship, and the LGBTQI+ leadership program of the Harvard Kennedy School. He currently participates in international leadership and advocacy spaces related to LGBTQI+ rights, human mobility, inclusive development, and the protection of refugees and forcibly displaced people.