Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Flavia Pansieri of Italy

 

Deputy High Commissioner For Human Rights

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Flavia Pansieri of Italy as Assistant Secretary-General to serve as Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights.

Ms. Pansieri will replace Kyung-wha Kang, to whom the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Human Rights are grateful for her dedicated service to the United Nations human rights programme over the past six years.

Having recently served as Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) programme, Ms. Pansieri brings to her new position nearly 30 years of experience in the United Nations system around the world.  Before joining UNV in 2008, she was the United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Yemen from 2004 to 2008.  That followed three years in charge of the country division of the UNDP Regional Bureau for Arab States, during which she provided guidance and support to programme activities in those countries.

Ms. Pansieri started her United Nations career in 1983 with UNDP in China, and later in Bangladesh and Myanmar.  That was followed by a 1993 posting to Laos as Director of the United Nations Drug Control Programme, now the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  From 1995 to 1998, she served at UNODC Headquarters in Vienna, assisting countries in the preparation of drug-control master plans while directing the planning and evaluation activities.

She then moved to New York in 1998 as Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), where she engaged in promoting women’s economic, social and political participation, and in raising awareness about gender equality and violence against women.  She returned to UNDP in 2001.

Ms. Pansieri, a fluent speaker of English, German, French, Spanish and Chinese, in addition to her native Italian, holds doctorate degrees in philosophy from Milan University and in Chinese language and literature from Venice University.

Born in 1951, she is married and has one daughter.

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For information media • not an official record