Maria Carolina brings nearly 15 years’ experience in the human rights and humanitarian sectors previously having worked with Human Rights Watch, the UN, and as a research fellow supporting local and international institutes to analyze the convergence of armed conflict, displacement, and sexual violence in the Middle East and North Africa region.

Since joining the ICRC in 2015, she has worked in protection in the Occupied Palestinian Territories (Nablus) and Iraq (Ramadi) as well managing humanitarian operations in Tindouf (Algeria), Libya (Tripoli), and Sudan where she opened the ICRC’s sub-delegation in the East (Kassala). In 2022, Maria Carolina returned to area of technical expertise, joining the Addressing Sexual Violence team as the Regional Advisor for Addressing Sexual Violence in the Americas. She is currently the team’s Humanitarian Diplomacy and Policy Adviser based in Geneva where she specializes on policy work aimed at reducing the humanitarian impact of mandatory reporting.

She holds a BA in Latin American History from the University of Chicago and a MSc in International Development and Humanitarian Emergencies from the London School of Economics. Maria Carolina speaks Portuguese, English, Arabic, Spanish, and French.