Catarina de Albuquerque

Catarina de Albuquerque (born 1970) is a Portuguese lawyer and human rights activist who served as the first United Nations Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation (2008–2014). After becoming Executive Chair of Sanitation and Water for All (SWA) in 2015, in September 2018 she was appointed SWA's Chief Executive Officer.

Born in 1970, Catarina de Albuquerque attended the German International School in Lisbon before graduating in law from the University of Lisbon. She then earned a master's degree in law (LLM) from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, leading her into her first contacts with the United Nations.

From 2004 to 2008, she coordinated work on the Optional Protocol to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights which was adopted by the United Nations General Assembly on 10 December 2008. She was also involved in work on the rights of the child in connection with armed conflict and on the trafficking, pornography and prostitution of children.

De Alburquerque has taught at the law departments of the University of Minho and the University of Coimbra as an invited professor, as well as at the American University in Washington, D.C. and at the European Inter-University Centre for Human Rights and Democratisation in Venice.

She received the Order of Merit from the Portuguese President in October 2009 and the Human Rights Golden Medal from the Portuguese Parliament in December 2009.