TREASURER

COLOMBIA

Leonor is an indigenous activist from Arhuaco Organization in Sierra Nevada de Santa Marta, del Cesar, Colombia. She is the Human Rights Commissioner of the Tayrona Indigenous Confederation (Confederacion Indigena Tayrona) and representative of the National Commission of the Indigenous Peoples of Colombia.

She was born in a village in the Arhuaco Shelter in the municipality of Kwakumuke in Cesar. While she holds an auxiliary degree in Social Dentistry from the University of Antioquia in Medellin, she pursued a career as an advocate for the rights of indigenous peoples in Colombia. Leonor has worked to improve the political representation of the Indian peoples and help them develop and protect their culture for many years.

She was part of the delegation of the National Working Group for Indigenous Peoples Rights of the Constituent Assembly of 1991, and the development of the first programs and plans in defense of the autonomy of the traditional and organizational authorities of Pueblo Arhuaco in Colombia. She also served as the representative of indigenous peoples of Colombia to the Conference of the Parties of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

She has received several awards and international recognition for her work. In 2007, she was awarded the Anna Lindh Prize for campaigning for the rights of indigenous people in the South American nation. The Anna Lindh Prize is a human rights award created in memory of the murdered Swedish foreign minister.