Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS LEILA ZERROUGUI OF ALGERIA DEPUTY SPECIAL

REPRESENTATIVE FOR DEMOCRATIC REPUBLIC OF CONGO

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Leila Zerrougui of Algeria as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Deputy Head of the United Nations Organization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUC). 

Ms. Zerrougui has had a distinguished career in the strengthening of the rule of law, in particular through the administration of justice, and in human rights.  Before her appointment to Algeria’s Supreme Court in 2000, she served as a judge on the first instance Tribunal from 1980 to 1986, and on the Court of Appeals from 1986 to 1997.  From 1998 to 2000 she was legal adviser to the Cabinet of the Ministry of Justice.  Since 2000, she has also held the position of “Chargé de mission” in the Presidency of the Republic of Algeria.

Ms. Zerrougui has been a member of the Working Group on Arbitrary Detention under the United Nations Human Rights Council since 2001, and served as the Working Group’s Chairperson-Rapporteur from 2003 until May 2008.  She has previously served as an expert member of a number of working groups and committees under the Commission on Human Rights.

She graduated from the Ecole Nationale d’Administration ( Algiers)in 1980.  Since 1993, she has held various academic positions at law schools in Algeria, and is now associate professor of the Ecole Supérieure de la Magistrature ( Algiers).  She has published extensively on the administration of justice and human rights.

Ms. Zerrougui was born in 1956 in Souk-Ahras, Algeria.

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