Document, denounce and divulge human rights violations | Feliciano Reyna Ganteaume | TEDxLiberdade

This talk was given at a local TEDx event, produced independently of the TED Conferences. After a tragic loss in 1995, Feliciano founded an organization that provides critical support to people with HIV/AIDS and ultimately became one of Venezuela’s most prominent HIV/AIDS activists. When he realized that legal barriers in Venezuela were hindering the work of his organization and others, he also became a global advocate for civil society freedoms. He shares his story and the lessons he learned along the way —why civil society rights are critical to defending all human rights, and the importance of documenting, denouncing, and divulging human rights violations.

Feliciano Reyna is the founder of Acción Solidaria on HIV/AIDS which he founded in 1995 after the death of his partner, and has acted as its EXECUTIVE President since that date.

Feliciano has dedicated his life to the issue of HIV/AIDS and has become one of Venezuela’s most prominent people with regards to the issue.

Between 1995 and 2003, Feliciano was the representative of the NATIONAL NETWORK of NGOs before the Technical Group of the Venezuelan Office of UNAIDS. In 2001, he became a Fellow of Ashoka, an international network of SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURS. In 2003, Feliciano founded CODEVIDA, a network of organizations advocating for the right to health of people with chronic HEALTH CONDITIONS. Feliciano has participated in several international AIDS conferences as a speaker, oral abstract presenter, and session co-chair. At the XVI AIDS Conference in Toronto in 2006, Acción Solidaria was selected as one of the recipients of the first edition of the Red Ribbon Award.

From 2005 to 2012, Feliciano was the Chair of Sinergia, the Venezuelan Network of CIVIL SOCIETY ORGANIZATIONS, and in 2010, he created CIVILIS Human Rights, to support the activities carried out by individuals and civil society organizations in the promotion and defense of human rights. Feliciano is a Member of the Boards of the International Center for not-for-profit Law and of CIVICUS, Global Alliance for Citizen Participation.

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