Roberto Álvarez He served in the Foreign Service of the Dominican Republic from 1966 to 1970, and from 1970 to 1978 he served as a lawyer for the General Secretariat of the Organization of American States (OAS), first as Assistant Director of Protocol, then in the Department of Legal Affairs, and then in the Secretariat of the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights (IACHR). As a senior specialist for the Commission, he prepared draft reports on human rights in Chile (1976), Paraguay (1977), El Salvador (1978), and Nicaragua (1978), and also organized the IACHR's on-site visits to Panama (1977), El Salvador (1978), and Nicaragua (1978).
Between January 1979 and July 1980, he conducted research on legal assistance to indigents and groups without effective legal representation in the Dominican Republic and the Caribbean, as well as on the promotion and protection of human rights, for the Inter-American Foundation. While pursuing a master's degree at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, from 1982 to 1984, he served as associate director of the Central America and Caribbean program at the same think tank.
Dr. Álvarez has worked as a consultant for the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB), Coordinator of the First Forum on Private Investment in the Americas, Washington, DC, USA, 1991; for the Latin American Institute for the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders (ILANUD) of the United Nations, 1987-1988; and for the Ford Foundation, on matters related to the promotion of business, the strengthening of the administration of justice and the rule of law, and the promotion and protection of human rights, 1978-1979. He has also served as an official delegate for Amnesty International on missions to Nicaragua (1980-81) and Sri Lanka (1981).
He has been a visiting professor and speaker on topics related to human rights, public international law, and U.S. foreign policy at various universities and academic centers, including: the Diplomatic School of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Dominican Republic; the Foreign Service Institute of the U.S. Department of State in Washington, DC; the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) in the Dominican Republic; the Central American University (UCA) in Managua, Nicaragua; Rutgers Law School in Camden, New Jersey; Florida International University (FIU) in Miami; and City University of New York (CUNY). He has also worked in private enterprise, primarily in Washington, DC, USA, establishing several businesses in the gastronomy sector.
From June 2005 to September 2008, Dr. Álvarez served as Permanent Representative of the Dominican Republic to the Organization of American States with the rank of Ambassador. At the OAS, he served as President of the Permanent Council on behalf of the Dominican Republic from July to September 2005. He was also elected Chair of the Subcommittee on Partnership for Development Policies of the Permanent Executive Committee of the Inter-American Council for Integral Development (CEPCIDI) from 2006 to 2007, and of the Committee on Juridical and Political Affairs of the Permanent Council (CAJP) from 2007 to 2008.
From December 2008 to August 2010, when he resigned, he served as an honorary ambassador on the Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Since 2012, he has been a member of the Advisory Council of the Latin American Program of the Woodrow Wilson International Center for Scholars.
On February 10, 2013, he was elected to the National Council by the 19th Annual Assembly of Citizen Participation (PC), a non-partisan civic movement, for the period from February 2013 to February 2015. On February 19, 2013, the Council appointed him General Coordinator of the institution for a one-year term. On April 22, 2014, Dr. Álvarez requested a resignation from his membership on the National Council.
He served as international policy director for Modern Revolutionary Party (PRM) presidential candidate Luis Abinader during the May 2016 presidential campaign, a position he currently holds during the 2020 campaign.
He is the author of several books, monographs, and articles on human rights and international affairs. He has been a columnist for the Dominican newspapers El Caribe and Clave, and the magazine La Lupa sin Trabas; he has also contributed to other Dominican and international newspapers and specialized magazines, such as Acento.com, Listín Diario, Rumbo, Hoy, Gaceta Judicial, Estudios Jurídicos, El País of Spain, the Washington Post, the Miami Herald, and Foreign Affairs Latinoamérica. He is a frequent commentator on international affairs on radio and television programs.
He earned a Master's degree in International Relations (1982) from the School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS) at Johns Hopkins University in Washington, DC, and completed all requirements, except the thesis, for a Ph.D. (1985). He earned a Juris Doctor degree (1968) from the Autonomous University of Santo Domingo (UASD) and a Master's degree in Comparative Law (1976) from Georgetown University in Washington, DC.
In addition to his native Spanish, he is fluent in English and has a working knowledge of French and Portuguese. He has practiced numerous sports as an amateur, excelling in martial arts. He holds a second-degree black belt in Tae Kwon Do (Korean karate), having studied under the renowned tenth-degree grandmaster Jhoon Rhee, known as the father of Tae Kwon Do in the United States.
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