Natalia Bonilla
Bio:
Natalia Bonilla is a freelance journalist and documentary producer with focus on conflict, peace and gender issues in Latin America. She has reported stories in Spanish and English for The Guardian, National Geographic's The Great Energy Challenge Blog, Public Radio International, and El País newspaper, among other outlets. She previously worked for two years as multimedia reporter covering the English and French-speaking Caribbean for EFE News Agency. Bonilla holds a master's degree in international relations from the University of York, a postgraduate diploma in peace and conflict reporting from the Autonomous University of Barcelona and a bachelor's degree in journalism from the University of Puerto Rico.
Despite the peace agreement between the Colombian government and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia People’s Army being the first in the world to acknowledge the different realities and disadvantages women and the LGBTQ population face, advocates say deeply entrenched misogyny is stalling progress.
Niñas sin Miedo, or Girls Without Fear, works to promote human rights by educating young girls on sexualized violence and offering conferences and workshops on teen pregnancy prevention, sexual abuse, and harassment. It also empowers the girls by teaching them to ride bikes together.
Guatemala City—It’s not a stretch to say that the reproductive rights of women and girls are not fully recognized in Guatemala. On top of that—or perhaps because of it—Guatemala has one of the highest rates of teen pregnancy in Latin America, where one in three girls becomes a mother before reaching the age of 18, according to a 2014 UNICEF report.
