Ms. Yuefen Li, former Independent Expert (2020-2021)

Ms. Yuefen Li (China) took up her function as the UN Independent Expert on Foreign Debt and Human Rights on 1 May 2020. She is currently Senior Advisor on South-South Cooperation and Development Finance at the South Centre.

She received her Bachelor’s degree from the University of Foreign Studies of China and Master’s degree from the American Graduate School of International Management in the United States.

Prior to joining the United Nations in 1990, she was a lecturer in the University of International Business and Economics in Beijing, China. In her long career at the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), she has assumed progressively more responsibilities and occupied various positions including Senior Economic Affairs Officer and the Head of UNCTAD’s debt and development finance work. She was Manager of UNCTAD Project on Promoting Responsible Sovereign Lending and Borrowing and the Manager of the Project on Globalization.

She was also guest professor of Tsinghua University and two other universities in China. She has published books, papers and articles in professional journals and newspapers, and contributed extensively to UNCTAD and South Centre publications and documents.