Fernando Burgés

Since 2015, Fernando is part of the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO), an international association of nations and peoples who are lacking effective political representation in national or international governance structures. As Head of Policy of the organisation, Fernando leads the efforts to build the understanding of and respect for the right to self-determination of peoples in all of its forms.

Working with some of the world’s most vulnerable communities living on the fringes of the international system, Fernando has engaged on their behalf with politicians and state officials in different capitals. At the multilateral level, he has been active at the United Nations Human Rights Council and UN Forum on Minority Issues, confronting governments failing to live up to their international obligations. Fernando was part of several fact-finding missions, including to Iraq, to assess the state of minorities during ISIS’ takeover of Mosul; to Brazil, where he led a delegation of Members of the European Parliament to the state of Mato Grosso do Sul to assess the condition of the indigenous Guarani-Kaiowás persecuted by the agribusiness paramilitary; and to Somaliland, where he was part of the 2017 presidential election observation mission of a country no other recognizes yet.

Before joining UNPO, Fernando worked on refugee-related projects in Brazil and later on, in the UK and The Netherlands, he was engaged with a global campaign to support Palestinian rights. He holds a Master’s Degree in Conflict Resolution & Governance from the University of Amsterdam; a BA in International Relations from the Pontifícia Universidade Católica de São Paulo; and a post-graduate certificate in Nationalism Studies from Eötvös Loránd University in Budapest.