Renata Avila
Executive Director

International human rights lawyer and digital rights advocate, she is an expert in intellectual property, digital rights and their intersection with trade, privacy and data. In her early practice, she represented indigenous victims of genocide and other human rights abuses, including the prominent indigenous leader and Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Rigoberta Menchu Tum. She also represented awarded journalist Julian Assange and Wikileaks since 2009 and regularly provides legal advice to  pro bono cases to advance the right to know and the freedom of expression.  

Avila sits on the International Board of Creative Commons. She is a member of the WEF’s Global Future Council on Human Rights and Technology, she is a Steering Committee Member of the Information Society Advisory Council (CSISAC) for the OECD, Member of the Digital Cities Advisory Board, and a Coordinating Collective member of Diem25, a movement to democratize Europe, recently launching together with the Sanders Institute a global call for a Progressive International Movement. She book co-authored the book “Women, Whistleblowing Wikileaks” (OR Books) and regularly writes for El Diario and other newspapers.

She is currently writing a book on Digital Colonialism (2019) and regularly writes for several international newspapers.