Erika Watanabe Patriota is a Brazilian career diplomat with over 25 years of experience, most of them dedicated to multilateral negotiations (United Nations and the World Trade Organization), dealing with human rights issues, on the one hand, and trade issues, on the other. 

The first 10 years of her diplomatic career were spent in trade negotiations in Mercosur (services) and negotiations at the WTO, in the areas of services (GATS), environmental goods and services, and dispute settlement.  

From 2013 to 2016, Ms. Watanabe headed the Human Rights section at the Permanent Mission of Brazil to the UN, in New York. Along with Germany, Ms. Watanabe Patriota co-chaired the negotiations in New York of the first UN Resolution “The Right to Privacy in the Digital Age” (2013) and its second version (2014).

In June 2023, she was appointed Deputy Permanent Representative to the Brazilian Mission to the WTO in Geneva.