Robin Reineke PhD

  • Colibrí Center for Human Rights

  • Co-Founded with William Masson

  • 2014 Global Fellow

Robin Reineke PhD
  • Colibrí Center for Human Rights

  • Co-Founded with William Masson

  • 2014 Global Fellow

bold idea

Change U.S.-Mexico border policies by witnessing human rights violations on the border, serving the families of missing migrants, and producing reliable data-driven research.

organization overview

The mission of the Colibrí Center for Human Rights is to end migrant death and suffering on the U.S.­-Mexico border through forensic research, human identification, and education. Our database of missing and unidentified migrants along the border enables families, regardless of legal status or nationality, to achieve the basic human right to know the fate of a missing loved one. We envision a border where the protection of human life is paramount. As the only organization combining forensic science, research, and advocacy, Colibrí aims to shift the conversation about immigration from one characterized by fear to one characterized by compassion.

Personal Bio

Robin Reineke is an assistant research social scientist in anthropology at the University of Arizona’s Southwest Center. Robin has done extensive research along the U.S.-Mexico border among forensic scientists, humanitarians, government officials, and families of the missing and dead. This research compelled her to found the Missing Migrant Project in 2006, and to co-found the Colibrí Center for Human Rights in 2013. From Seattle, Washington, Robin received a BA in anthropology from Bryn Mawr College, and a master’s and PhD in anthropology from the University of Arizona. Her work has been featured by the BBC, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, The Economist, The Nation, and the documentary film Who Is Dayani Cristal? She was awarded the Institute for Policy Studies’ Letelier-Moffitt Human Rights Award in 2014. Robin is a 2014 Echoing Green Fellow.