Irene Zubaida Khan Becomes First Woman, Asian and Muslim to Head Amnesty International

Category: World Affairs Topics: Amnesty International, Austria, Human Rights Views: 3712
3712

Newly appointed secretary general of the human watchdog Amnesty International, Irene Zubaida Khan of Bangladesh arrives, 17 August 2001 in Dakar, for the opening ceremony of the organization's 25th International Council, which runs to 25 August. Khan is the first woman and Asian to take the post of secretary general.

When 44-year-old Bangladeshi Irene Zubaida Khan took over as secretary general of Amnesty International on last week, she became the first woman, the first Asian and the first Muslim to head the human rights watchdog.

Khan formally replaced Senegal's Pierre Sane as head of the London-based organisation on last Friday after a 21-year career with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.

Born on December 24, 1956 in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, she is an expert in public law, international law and human rights law after studies at the University of Manchester, England and at Harvard Law School in the United States.

She began her career as a legal assistant with the International Commission of Lawyers in Geneva, before joining the UNHCR in 1980 as a counselor for the protection of refugees.

During postings in Southeast Asia, Pakistan, Britain and the Republic of Ireland, Khan is said to have always been particularly motivated by her work in the field.

In 1995 the UNHCR appointed her chief of mission of their Indian bureau, where she was responsible for the protection of 200,000 refugees. Three years later, she was named head of information and research at the agency, before becoming deputy director of the international protection service in 1999.

Khan becomes the seventh secretary general of Amnesty International in its 40-year history.


  Category: World Affairs
  Topics: Amnesty International, Austria, Human Rights
Views: 3712

Related Suggestions

 
COMMENTS DISCLAIMER & RULES OF ENGAGEMENT
The opinions expressed herein, through this post or comments, contain positions and viewpoints that are not necessarily those of IslamiCity. These are offered as a means for IslamiCity to stimulate dialogue and discussion in our continuing mission of being an educational organization. The IslamiCity site may occasionally contain copyrighted material the use of which may not always have been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. IslamiCity is making such material available in its effort to advance understanding of humanitarian, education, democracy, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law.


In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, and such (and all) material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes.