Lisa Haugaard
Executive Director, Latin America Working Group, LAWG (website)
email: lisah [at] lawg [dot] org
phone: (202) 546-7010
Executive Director, Latin America Working Group, LAWG (website)
email: lisah [at] lawg [dot] org
phone: (202) 546-7010
Latin America | security assistance | harm to civilians
Lisa Haugaard, Co-director of the Latin America Working Group, has led advocacy efforts on human rights issues and U.S. policy towards Latin America for a coalition of human rights, faith, labor and nongovernmental groups for over 20 years. Ms. Haugaard collaborated with Colombian human rights groups to document, denounce and demand accountability for escalating extrajudicial executions, a collective effort that resulted in a dramatic drop in new abuses and hundreds of cases shifting from military to civilian courts. She has participated in international verification missions on human rights defenders, election monitoring and migrant rights. Ms. Haugaard has testified before and headlined briefings in the U.S. Congress, addressed press conferences and led workshops in Latin America, and conducted advocacy at all levels of the State and Defense Departments, USAID, Southern Command and Congress.
She is the author of numerous reports and memos on Latin America issues. Ms. Haugaard serves as a juror for the National Human Rights Prize for Colombia. She completed PhD exams in Political Science at Columbia University, a Master's in Latin American Studies from New York University, and a BA in English and Latin American literature with High Honors from Swarthmore College, and was a recipient of Fulbright and MacArthur fellowships. On a 2011 sabbatical she attended the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Washington College of Law.
Recent Publications:
Lisa Haugaard, Co-director of the Latin America Working Group, has led advocacy efforts on human rights issues and U.S. policy towards Latin America for a coalition of human rights, faith, labor and nongovernmental groups for over 20 years. Ms. Haugaard collaborated with Colombian human rights groups to document, denounce and demand accountability for escalating extrajudicial executions, a collective effort that resulted in a dramatic drop in new abuses and hundreds of cases shifting from military to civilian courts. She has participated in international verification missions on human rights defenders, election monitoring and migrant rights. Ms. Haugaard has testified before and headlined briefings in the U.S. Congress, addressed press conferences and led workshops in Latin America, and conducted advocacy at all levels of the State and Defense Departments, USAID, Southern Command and Congress.
She is the author of numerous reports and memos on Latin America issues. Ms. Haugaard serves as a juror for the National Human Rights Prize for Colombia. She completed PhD exams in Political Science at Columbia University, a Master's in Latin American Studies from New York University, and a BA in English and Latin American literature with High Honors from Swarthmore College, and was a recipient of Fulbright and MacArthur fellowships. On a 2011 sabbatical she attended the Academy on Human Rights and Humanitarian Law at the Washington College of Law.
Recent Publications:
- "Making Way for Corruption in Guatemala and Honduras," Latin America Working Group, December 5, 2019.
- "A Wake-Up Call: Colombia’s Peace at Risk," Latin America Working Group, October 11, 2019.
- "FARC Guerrillas Turn in their Weapons: An End to Fifty Years of War," Latin America Working Group, June 2017.