16 Facts About Flavia Pansieri

Flavia Pansieri was the United Nations Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights at the level of Assistant Secretary-General.

Flavia Pansieri was appointed to this position by the United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon on 15 March 2013, and resigned on 22 July 2015, departing on 31 December 2015 after the selection of her successor was announced.

Flavia Pansieri later moved on to different positions within the UN system in other countries, including Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Laos, where she served as director of the UN Drug Control Programme, the predecessor of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime.

Flavia Pansieri worked in Vienna between 1995 and 1998 and served as deputy executive director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women in New York from 1998 to 2001, when she rejoined UNDP.

Between 2001 and 2004, Flavia Pansieri headed the Country Operations Division of UNDP overseeing all programming activities in the Arab region, at the point in time when the region started being at the centre of attention following the publication of the UNDP Arab Human Development Report and the 11 September terrorist attacks in the USA.

From 2004 to 2008, Flavia Pansieri served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme Resident Representative in Yemen.

Flavia Pansieri described how she was inspired by volunteerism, which she said was essential to achieving development goals.

Flavia Pansieri went on to serve as Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteers programme from 2008 to 2013.

In September 2014, speaking at a special session of the Human Rights Council on the human rights situation in Iraq, Flavia Pansieri reported that the Islamic State was believed to have carried out "acts of inhumanity on an unimaginable scale", and that evidence suggested Iraqi government forces may have committed human rights violations.

In 2015, Flavia Pansieri presented a report describing the negative impact of the global drug problem on human rights.

Flavia Pansieri said that to much of the international community, such policies were no longer controversial.

Also in 2015, Flavia Pansieri made an official visit to Colombia, where she stressed that even after 50 years of war, it was important for Colombians not to give up on the peace process, no matter the obstacles and setbacks that may continue to occur.

Flavia Pansieri decided to retire from her position on 22 July 2015, citing health reasons.

Flavia Pansieri continued to carry out her functions until she officially retired on 31 December 2015.

Flavia Pansieri stated that she had assumed that French authorities were handling the matter, despite repeated requests for additional information from French authorities.

However, Flavia Pansieri responded with a statement demanding the whistleblower's resignation.