Leonardo Reales

When asked about the benefits of his experience in the 2002 HRAP, Leonardo Reales of Colombia states, “HRAP gave me key tools to improve my work as a human rights activist and academic.”

Upon entering HRAP, Reales was serving as Coordinator of the Human Rights Committee of the National Movement for the Human Rights of Afro-Colombian Communities (CIMARRON), one of Colombia's most prominent NGOs working to promote Afro-Colombian rights. Having participated in HRAP’s capacity building program of courses, networking and workshops, he says that HRAP “improved my speaking and writing skills and made relevant contacts for me at the international level, which has had an extremely-positive impact on my professional activities.”

Since his departure from HRAP, Reales has earned his Master’s Degree in Economic, Political, and International Affairs from Externado University in Bogota as well as a certificate in Regional Human Rights Systems from the Asser Institute at The Hague and the Catholic University of Leuven. He completed his PhD in Political Science at Louisiana State University and The New School in New York City. He has received prestigious awards for his work and education including a Fulbright Scholarship in 2005 and the Sue Davis Award for Talented Latin American PhD Students in 2007. Reales has been invited to the UN Forum on Minority Issues as an International Expert several times.

Asked how his participation in HRAP, Reales wrote, “I have used the methodological, theoretical, and practical tools that I acquired at the HRAP not only to improve the human rights reports that I write, but also to develop human rights campaigns and training programs and workshops throughout Colombia.”

Reales continued in his role as Coordinator of the Human Rights Committee and Social Development Committee of CIMARRON for almost 10 years and also became the Regional Correspondent of the World Association of School as an Instrument of Peace, where he was responsible for educating community leaders and teachers on human rights and peace issues. In 2012 and 2013 he worked for both the Ministry of Defense and the Ministry of Interior in Colombia as a Human Rights and Political Advisor and in 2014 he worked as a Citizen Participation Consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank. Since 2015, Reales has been the Human Rights Program Manager at the United States Agency for International Development in Colombia, where he works with government institutions and civil society to promote human rights in the regions most affected by the conflict. Outside of his professional accomplishments, Reales is a professional comedian. Married in 2004, he has two Colombian-American baby girls born in New York, Sahara and Salome.

—Article composed by Claire Kozik, Program Assistant, Summer 2018