Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona

Magdalena Sepúlveda Carmona is the director of the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development (UNRISD) and a member of the Independent Commission for the Reform of International Corporate Taxation.

Sepúlveda was previously the executive director of the Global Initiative for Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (2019-2024), the UN special rapporteur on extreme poverty and human rights (2008–14) as well as a consulting expert to the UN Committee on World Food Security’s food security and nutrition panel (2013–17) She was also a member of the United Nations High Level Panel on International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity for Achieving the 2030 Agenda. In 2015, she was recognized in the Global Tax 50, a list of individuals and organizations with the biggest impact on taxation worldwide. Her writing on human rights, fiscal policies, poverty, gender, and development has been widely published.

Born in Chile, Sepúlveda received a postgraduate degree in comparative constitutional law from the Universidad Católica de Chile, a master’s in human rights law from the University of Essex and a doctorate in international law from Utrecht University. Sepúlveda’s previous positions include researcher, the Netherlands Institute for Human Rights; staff attorney, Inter-American Court of Human Rights; co-director, Department of International Law and Human Rights, University for Peace; and research director, the International Council on Human Rights Policy. She has also taught at universities in the UK and Chile, and served as a consultant to UN Women, ILO, OHCHR, UNHCR, UNICEF and the World Bank Group.