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Nada Al-Nashif was appointed United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights on 6 December 2019, assuming the position in 10 February 2020. 

She brings to the role close to 30 years of experience within the United Nations system around the world. As an economist and development practitioner, Ms. Al-Nashif has taken on increasingly complex management roles during her career within the United Nations, including leading strategic organisational transformation processes.

From 2015-2020, Ms. Al-Nashif served as Assistant Director-General for Social and Human Sciences at UNESCO in Paris, leading a portfolio that targets the mobilisation of knowledge for inclusive, just and sustainable societies.

Prior to joining UNESCO, she served as Assistant Director-General/Regional Director of the International Labour Organization's Regional Office for Arab States, based in Beirut, Lebanon (2007–2014). She previously worked at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where she started her United Nations career in 1991, serving in Libya (1992-1995), Lebanon (2000-2004), Iraq (2003) and at Headquarters in New York (1995- 2000, 2005-2006).

She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (1987) from Balliol, Oxford University (UK) and a Master's in Public Policy (1991) from the Kennedy School of Government, Harvard University (USA).

Ms. Al-Nashif, who is Jordanian, is bilingual in English and Arabic, with working knowledge of French.