Under-Secretary-General Pramila Patten was appointed as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict on April 12, 2017. Prior to this appointment and since 2003, Ms. Patten served as a member of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). She was the chairperson of the Working Group on General Recommendation No. 30 on “Women in Conflict Prevention, Conflict and Post-Conflict situations”.
She has been a member of several high-level panels and projects, including the High-Level Advisory Group for the Global Study on the Implementation of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 (2000) on Women, Peace and Security, and the Advisory Panel for the African Women’s Rights Observatory (AWRO) within the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa (ECA).
She previously was a Commissioner of the International Commission of Inquiry into the massacre in Guinea Conakry on September 28, 2009.
A national of Mauritius, she has been a practicing lawyer since 1982 and is a member of the Honourable Society of Gray’s Inn.