With a background in languages and law, Caterina worked in comparative criminal law research in Germany before joining the Council of Europe, where she has worked on constitutional and criminal law reforms and monitored trafficking for sexual exploitation. She directed the Office in Georgia and worked for many years with the Organisation’s anti-torture monitoring, where she focused on women in prison. Since 2018 Caterina manages the Council of Europe’s team working on gender equality.  She is Secretary to the Gender Equality Commission, the pan-European intergovernmental forum which steers gender equality policies and standards, including the 2019 Recommendation on combating and preventing sexism.