Gisele Bonnici is a migrant and refugee rights advocate with two decades of experience challenging perspectives and policies that do not respect human rights. Her current motivation is derived from the privilege of engaging with and guiding her young son.

When she joined a nascent IDC in 2011 as Americas Regional Manager, Gisele was inspired by the vision of a movement that could offer real solutions to drive change for the lives of people forced to migrate. She focused on the contribution from Latin America and the Caribbean, fostering dialogue, research and communications in Spanish. She initiated IDC´s Mexico program, motivated by countless stories of lives truncated by immigration detention from her previous work.

Gisele coordinated case management and asylum representation as a foundation for her global advocacy experience at Sin Fronteras and later worked as independent researcher including for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and the think tank Instituto de Estudios y Divulgación sobre Migración, where she was a founding board member. Prior to joining the
humanitarian sector, Gisele practiced as a corporate finance lawyer at White & Case LLP in New York and Mexico City.

Gisele received a Master’s degree in International Law and Development from Georgetown University, and holds a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Business Science from the University of Cape Town. She is qualified as a lawyer in New York, USA and in South Africa.