EPSY CAMPBELL BARR (Costa Rica)

Vice President of the Republic of Costa Rica (2018-2022), the first Afro-Costa Rican woman and the second Afro-descendant woman to hold that high office in the Americas, Afro-Costa Rican leader, two-time congresswoman (2002-2006; 2014-2018) and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Worship (2018).

She is a researcher and human rights activist on issues related to women, indigenous peoples, Afro-descendants, human development, social inclusion and environment. She is currently a member of the Permanent Forum of Afrodescendants of the United Nations.

She was a proponent in Costa Rica of the approval of the Inter-American Convention against Racism, Racial Discrimination and Related Forms of Intolerance (2016); Founder and leader of the Afro-Costa Rican Women’s Center. She promoted the commemoration of the International Day for People of African Descent (2021) and the Permanent Forum of Afrodescendants at the United Nations (2021). In addition, he was a member of the Committee that prepared the “Regional Human Development Report for Latin America and the Caribbean: Multidimensional Progress” (2016) of the United Nations Development Program, director of more than fifteen international researches and author of 20 publications on social inclusion.