Mirian Masaquiza

Mirian Masaquiza Jerez belongs to the kichwa-Salasaca an indigenous people from Tungurahua Province in Ecuador. She currently is member of the Cabinet of the President of the 63rd session of the United Nations General Assembly, Father Miguel D'Escoto Brockmann.

During five years Ms. Masaquiza was staff member of the Secretariat of the Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues (SPFII), Department of Economic and Social Affairs (DESA). The Secretariat team who facilitated and witnessed several historical events related to the UN’s work for indigenous peoples -- the adoption of the Second International Decade of the World’s Indigenous People and its Programme of Action, the adoption of a resolution on “Indigenous women beyond the ten-year review of the Beijing Declaration and Platform for Action,” the landmark Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples a reality.

Ms. Masaquiza was one of the founding members of the Permanent Forum’s Secretariat, her contributions have been varied, ranging from communications support, gender issues, inter-agency affairs, outreach to indigenous populations, political analysis, cultural issues and educations matter, among others.

Ms. Masaquiza has served as a consultant for the preparation of the Global Forum on Indigenous Peoples and the Information Society in DESA a parallel event at the World Summit on Information Society in 2003. Over the course of her career, her many responsibilities have included serving as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank in Washington, DC, and for the UN Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights in the preparations for the first session of the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

In 2003, Ms. Masaquiza earned an Especialización in Human Rights from the Universidad Andina Simon Bolivar in Quito, Ecuador. And in 2001, she completed the Indigenous Fellowship Programme at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva, Switzerland, a course on International Human Rights standards and mechanisms, as well as Indigenous Peoples’ Rights. She contributed on the drafting of the language policy for UNESCO and the book Education in a multilingual world. She is a former fellow of Hanns Seidel Foundation in Ecuador. Before that, Mirian was working as an assistant on indigenous issues at the Confederación Nacional de Organizaciones Campesinas, Indígenas y Negras del Ecuador (FENOCIN). where she strengthened the participation of indigenous youth and women in different areas of work of the indigenous movement at national and international level. Mirian Masaquiza speaks Kichwa her indigenous language, Spanish and English."


 * Program Council, Cultural Survival