The guest on this week’s 4-Quarter Lives is Ambassador Luis Gallegos who, at 76, is as active and engaged as he has ever been in his long and extremely distinguished career. He is advocating for the adoption, by the United Nations, of an international Convention for the Rights of Older People. This follows his role as president of the U.N. committee that drafted the U.N.’s Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, the first human rights treaty of the 21st century. He was also an elected member on the U.N.’s Committee on the Convention Against Torture, president of the advisory committee of the Institute of Public Policy & Disability, and former board member of Special Olympics International. During 2022 he was a Fellow of Harvard’s Advanced Leadership Initiative, which is where he and Avivah Wittenberg-Cox first met.
An Ecuadorian diplomat, Luis is the former Ecuadorian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility. Previously he served as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, and Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York and Geneva. He is currently Chair of Trustees of UNITAR, the United Nations Institute for Training and Research, and Chairman of the Global Initiative for Inclusive Information and Communication Technologies. The Congress of Ecuador has honored him twice for his work in human rights and for his leadership in the promotion and protection of human rights of persons with disabilities. Ambassador Gallegos is also a recipient of the Justice for All Disabilities Rights Award.
Prior to his appointment to the United Nations, Gallegos served as Ecuador's Ambassador to the United States from 2005 to 2011. He previously served as Ecuador's Head of Mission to Bulgaria from 1985 to 1989; Ambassador to El Salvador from 1994 to 1997; and Ambassador to Australia, among other positions. He holds a Juris Doctor Degree from the Central University of Ecuador, as well as a Masters of Arts Degree from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy of Tufts University. He is married and has two children.
Some Useful Links:
Wikipedia – Luis Gallegos Chiriboga
United Nations Institute for Training and Research - UNITAR
The Global Initiative for Inclusive ICTs – G3ict
Strengthening Older People’s Rights: Towards a UN Convention (2010)
Article on a Convention on the Rights of Older Persons - Wikipedia
Advanced Leadership Initiative, Harvard - ALI
Luis Gallegos: Pushing to Protect Q4