Ricardo Espinosa is a senior expert in international relations, with a wealth of 40 years of experience in the area of international relations, development, political issues and human rights.
He completed Master’s courses from the University of Geneva and from the Geneva Graduate Institute of Development Studies.
Ricardo Espinosa successively worked as a computer systems engineer in the private sector (1972–1977) and within the University of Geneva (1981-1986), before embarking on an international career that led him to work on the ground in the area of bilateral development aid in Senegal, Rwanda, Burundi, Peru, Nicaragua and Cameroon.
Between 1998 and 2013, he has been working as a United Nations International Civil Servant, holding high positions within the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Labor Office (ILO) and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).
Between 2003 and January 2014, Ricardo Espinosa worked within the Cabinet of the United Nations Office at Geneva’s Director General, where he served as the Head of the Service in charge of working relationship with Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations.
His experience makes him an enl
Ricardo Espinosa is a senior expert in international relations, with a wealth of 40 years of experience in the area of international relations, development, political issues and human rights.
He completed Master’s courses from the University of Geneva and from the Geneva Graduate Institute of Development Studies.
Ricardo Espinosa successively worked as a computer systems engineer in the private sector (1972–1977) and within the University of Geneva (1981-1986), before embarking on an international career that led him to work on the ground in the area of bilateral development aid in Senegal, Rwanda, Burundi, Peru, Nicaragua and Cameroon.
Between 1998 and 2013, he has been working as a United Nations International Civil Servant, holding high positions within the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), the International Labor Office (ILO) and the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG).
Between 2003 and January 2014, Ricardo Espinosa worked within the Cabinet of the United Nations Office at Geneva’s Director General, where he served as the Head of the Service in charge of working relationship with Non-Governmental and Civil Society Organizations.
His experience makes him an enlightened expert of the multilateral system and of the role played by civil society in international mechanisms and negotiations. He has been Senior Consultant of the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie on Civil Society issues, and President of the World Democratic Forum, Geneva. As an important commitment, he is "Goodwill Ambassador of the White-Ribon worlwide campaign" (violence against women) in Switzerland.
From 2014 to 2016, Ricardo Espinosa assumed the position of Executive Director and Head of Development and Global Initiatives at the Geneva Centre for Human Rights Advancement and Global Dialogue. He is now the Head of the Geneva Office of the International Association for Human Rights Advocacy in Geneva, which activities are focused on denunciation of human rights violations before main United Nations mechanisms, International Labor Organization, World Health Organization, among others.
Ricardo Espinosa is a well-known personality within the International Geneva and speaks English, French, Spanish and Italian.