Tatiana Villegas Zamora

Themes of special interest – the protection of cultural heritage and the fight against illicit trafficking of this heritage notably through the promotion and implementation of UNESCO’s 1970 and 2001 Conventions particularly through capacity building.

Professional biography

Tatiana Villegas Zamora is a Colombian underwater archaeologist. After her studies at high school in New Delhi, India and then Georgetown, Guyana, she continued her university studies at the University of Paris 1 Panthéon-Sorbonne in France, where she obtained in 1997, a degree in History of the Art and Archaeology, and a Masters in Underwater Archeology and Protection of Underwater Cultural Heritage in 2001.

Tatiana Villegas Zamora worked from 1992 to 2001 at the Permanent Delegation of Colombia to UNESCO, Paris (France).

In 2001, she joined the International Committee for Underwater Cultural Heritage within the International Council on Monuments and Sites (ICOMOS).

De 2007 à 2009, she worked at the UNESCO Secretariat as Associate Program Specialist within the Division of Cultural Objects and Intangible Heritage. She will place particular emphasis on the promotion and application of UNESCO conventions in the cultural field, in particular the 2001 Conventions on the protection of underwater heritage, and the 1970 Conventions on the fight against illicit traffic in cultural heritage. and museums.

In 2010, she joined the international staff of UNESCO when she was appointed Culture Program Specialist in Havana, at the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean in Cuba. Subsequently in 2014, she took on the responsibilities of culture specialist at the UNESCO Office for Haiti where she worked on the protection of underwater cultural heritage, the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property, the development of museums and the protection of intangible cultural heritage.

En 2016, Tatiana is appointed Head of the Culture Program for Egypt, Sudan and Libya at the UNESCO Regional Office for Arab Countries, based in Cairo. At the end of this 3-year mission, she joined the UNESCO Regional Office for Culture in Latin America and the Caribbean in Havana as coordinator of the Culture program.

On June 15, 2022, the Director-General of UNESCO appointed Tatiana Villegas Zamora Head of the UNESCO Office in Port-au-Prince in Haiti.

Tatiana Villegas Zamora is particularly interested in the creation of synergies between developing countries in UNESCO´s fields of expertise, in particular the protection of cultural heritage, the fight against illicit trafficking of cultural property, the protection of diversity cultural expressions, disaster risk reduction and synergies between Education, Culture and Science through academic and practical exchange programs.

For the past twenty years, she has worked on the protection of cultural heritage in Latin America, as well as in other developing countries in different regions of the world, notably through capacity building and technical assistance to governments.

In addition to her mother tongue, which is Spanish, Tatiana Villegas Zamora has an excellent level of French and English, and speaks Portuguese.