Noeleen Heyzer

Noeleen Heyzer currently serves as the Executive Secretary of United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). She was appointed to the position by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in July 2007.

Heyzer has extensive experience on issues related to women, gender, and development. In the early years of her career, she was a researcher for the World Employment Programme of the International Labor Organization and a fellow at the Institute of Development Studies at University of Sussex. While working for the Economic and Social Commission of Asian and the Pacific, she focused on the preparation for the Third World Conference on women and on youth employment. As Director of Gender Programme of the Asian and Pacific Development Center, she was a key player in the formulation of national development policies and programmes from a gender perspective and advised several Asian governments on gender issues.

Later on, she was appointed to head the United Nations Development Fund for Women (UNIFEM), the leading UN agency to promote gender equality and empowerment of women. Under her leadership, UNIFEM played a vital role in helping countries to formulate and implement legislation and policies to ensure women's security and rights. At UNIFEM, she focused on promoting women's leadership in conflict resolution, ending violence against women, and combating HIV/AIDS from a gender perspective. She played an active role in the adoption of United Nations Security Council Resolution 1325 on women, peace and security.^[1]

Heyzer has served on many boards and advisory committees of international organizations, including the United Nations Development Programme(UNDP) Human Development Report, the UNDP Eminent Persons Group on Trade and Sustainable Development and the Commission on Globalization of the State of the World's Forum.

She obtained a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree from the University of Singapore and a doctorate degree in social science from Cambridge University, United Kingdom (Lucy Cavendish College, Cambridge).

References

1. ^ United Nations Security Council Verbatim Report meeting 4208 page 6, Ms. Heyzer United Nations Development Fund for Women on 24 October 2000 (retrieved 2008-12-13)

External links

• Noeleen Heyzer biographical notes from the UN
• UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

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