Secrétaire générale adjointe

Laura Gil

Laura Gil
Secrétaire générale adjointe

Laura Gil was elected Assistant Secretary General of the OAS on May 5, 2025, for a fiveyear term, becoming on July 14 the first woman to hold this position in the Organization’s history. “When a woman enters circles of power, her participation in the conversation changes the formulation of questions, influences priorities, and contributes to the identification of differentiated solutions.” Her portfolio complements the priorities of Secretary General Albert Ramdin, strengthening institutional coherence and effectiveness, and reaffirming “her firm commitment to work in close collaboration with him, building the solid team entrusted to us by the Member States,” guided by the principles of transparency, accountability, and austerity.

An internationalist and seasoned public servant, Gil is steering the Office of the Assistant Secretary General toward transparent, inclusive, and participatory management, with an emphasis on engagement with civil society, the defense of human rights, and the modernization, preservation, and updating of institutional memory.

With a cross-cutting focus on gender equality and attention to vulnerable populations, she promotes the elimination of barriers and the creation of spaces for effective participation, ensuring that rights are fully enjoyed by all women in their diversity. Her agenda includes strengthening the strategic role of national offices — reviewing programs case by case and mobilizing targeted funding — as well as enhancing the Art Museum of the Americas (AMA) and the Columbus Memorial Library as pillars of memory and cultural diplomacy.

Prior to her election, she served as Colombia’s Vice Minister for Multilateral Affairs (2022–2023) and, from 2023, as Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Vienna, where she led the adoption — by vote — of the resolution that broke the “Vienna consensus” and established the first independent panel to review the international drug control regime in more than six decades, described as a “turning point” in global drug policy. Under her leadership, Colombia chaired the Vienna Chapter of the G-77+China for the first time (2024).

Gil holds a B.A. from St. John’s College and an M.A. in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School (Tufts), and was a Draper Hills Fellow at Stanford. Born in Montevideo and naturalized Colombian, she is recognized for her diplomatic judgment, clarity of purpose, and ability to build consensus. As a columnist, she received the Colombian Journalists Association Award (2014), the Law and Democracy Medal (2015), the Álvaro Gómez Hurtado Award (2017), and the Simón Bolívar Prize for Opinion (2019).