Maria Paz Canales
Head of Policy and Advocacy
mariapaz@gp-digital.org
Maria Paz oversees the development of insight and expertise to support GPD’s team and projects. Her particular focus areas are data protection, artificial intelligence, freedom of expression, competition and intellectual property.
Previously, she co-founded and served as Executive Director at Derechos Digitales. She holds a Master’s Degree with specialisation in Law and Technology from the University of California, Berkeley.
Explore their work
02 Oct 2026
Blog post
Finding a North Star for UN AI Governance
Humanity is already shaken by AI. However, AI’s impact on the exercise of human rights should not be a matter of chance, but rather a matter of choice. The key question is who is called to make those choices? AI governance cannot mean…
30 Sep 2026
Blog post
What’s At Stake at ITU PP-26
A guide for civil society groups that want to shape the ITU’s next four years of work Maria Paz is a member of the UK delegation in a supporting role and Mallory is a member of the US delegation to PP-26. They write here in their…
30 Jun 2026
Report
Human Rights Impact Assessment for Digital Public Infrastructure: A Framework
GPD has developed a framework to help stakeholders identify, assess, and address the human rights and rule of law impacts of Digital Public Infrastructure (DPI) design and implementation. The framework offers an adaptable model and methodology for understanding how people and communities interact with DPI systems, identifying risks and designing…