Elin Martínez

Elin Martínez is a senior researcher in the Children’s Rights Division of Human Rights Watch, where she focuses on the right to education. At Human Rights Watch, Martínez has conducted investigations and national and global advocacy on exclusion and barriers to inclusive primary and secondary education, school-related sexual violence and discrimination against pregnant and parenting students, including in Ecuador, Jordan, Senegal, South Africa, and Tanzania. She previously worked for the Global Partnership for Education’s Secretariat, as well as Save the Children UK, where she led the organization’s global advocacy efforts on the right to education in humanitarian emergencies. Prior to focusing on global education advocacy, she worked at Franciscans International, a faith-based international NGO, alongside grassroots human rights defenders and faith-based advocacy organizations in the Asia Pacific region.

Since 2022, Martinez has been the Chair of the Board of Trustees of the Right to Education Initiative, an international human rights nongovernmental organization dedicated entirely to the promotion and defense of the right to education. Martinez is an independent advisor to Education Out Loud, a global civil society fund for advocacy and social accountability in education.

She holds an LL.B. in International, European and Comparative Law from the University of Sheffield, and an LL.M. in International Criminal Justice and Armed Conflict from the University of Nottingham. She speaks English, Spanish and French.