Ruben Avila Reyna

Ruben is the Executive Director of Sin Control Parental, a digital youth-led platform created to promote information and counseling for youth and adolescents on sexual and reproductive health.

He is a current member and the former Mexico Country Coordinator of the International Youth Alliance for Family Planning (IYAFP), a global network of youth committed to family planning and sexual and reproductive health and rights (SRHR).

Ruben works to open spaces for youth and adolescents in Mexico to discuss and learn about SRHR and to advocate for changes to the laws and policies that affect their sexual and reproductive life, especially for young women and LGBTQI youth.

Ruben’s advocacy portfolio also includes being the co-founder of Universitarios por la Equidad y una Sociedad Integra e Incluyente (UNESII), a student group working on prevention of discrimination and bullying against LGBTQI youth; participating as a speaker in local, regional, and international spaces related to youth participation and SRHR; and collaborating with the World Health Organization as a regional focal point on adolescent SRHR in Latin America and the Caribbean. In 2019 Ruben was selected as one of the 25 youth champions on sexual and reproductive health for women and girls by the SheDecides global political movement.

Ruben earned a bachelor’s degree in international relations from the Universidad Autónoma de Nuevo León. He has also participated in short courses by the Institut of Drets Humans de Catalunya (Barcelona) and ONU Mujeres Colombia.