Maria Laura Canineu

Maria Laura Canineu is the deputy director of the Environment and Human Rights division. Between 2013 and 2023, she served as the Brazil Director in the Americas Division at Human Rights Watch.

Before joining Human Rights Watch, she directed a team of public lawyers, handling human rights issues. This included children’s, women’s, labor, LGBT and indigenous people's rights, as well as health and education issues.

Prior to this post, Canineu spent several years building the capacity of human rights NGOs in São Paulo, focusing on issues ranging from poverty reduction to corporate social responsibility. In her position at Human Rights Watch, she works towards engaging with the media, public officials, and local organizations to promote foreign policy in the defense of human rights.

Canineu is a graduate of the University of Warwick and Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo, where she studied international development law, human rights, and international relations.