Pramila Patten (; born 29 June 1958) is a Mauritian

barrister A barrister is a type of lawyer in common law jurisdictions. Barristers mostly specialise in courtroom advocacy and litigation. Their tasks include taking cases in superior courts and tribunals, drafting legal pleadings, researching law and ...

, women's rights activist, and

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

official, who currently serves as the

Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and

Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations An under-secretary-general of the United Nations (USG) is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the secretary-general for a renewable term of four years. Under-s ...

; she was appointed in 2017. Her office was established by Security Council Resolution 1888, introduced by

Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton ( Rodham; born October 26, 1947) is an American politician, diplomat, and former lawyer who served as the 67th United States Secretary of State for President Barack Obama from 2009 to 2013, as a United States sen ...

, and she succeeded

Margot Wallström Margot Elisabeth Wallström (; born 28 September 1954) is a Swedish politician of the Swedish Social Democratic Party who served as Deputy Prime Minister of Sweden and Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2014 to 2019 and Minister for Nordic Cooper ...

and

Zainab Bangura Haja Zainab Hawa Bangura (; born 18 December 1959) is a Sierra Leonean politician and social activist who has been serving as the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi (UNON) since 2018, appointed by United Nations Secretary-Ge ...

. Patten served as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women from 2003 to 2017, and was the committee's vice chairperson.

Life

Pramila Patten obtained a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

, a Diploma in Criminology at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

, a Master of Laws (LL.M.) at the University of London and was

called to the bar The call to the bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received "call to ...

in England as a member of

Gray's Inn The Honourable Society of Gray's Inn, commonly known as Gray's Inn, is one of the four Inns of Court (professional associations for barristers and judges) in London. To be called to the bar in order to practise as a barrister in England and Wale ...

. She practiced as a barrister in England from 1982 to 1986 before she returned to Mauritius, where she served as a district court judge between 1987 and 1988, and from 1987 to 1992 as a lecturer at the Faculty of Law of the University of Mauritius. Since 1995, she has been the director of the law firm Patten & Co Chambers. She was a member of the

International Women's Rights Action Watch International is an adjective (also used as a noun) meaning "between nations". International may also refer to: Music Albums * International (Kevin Michael album), ''International'' (Kevin Michael album), 2011 * International (New Order album), ' ...

between 1993 and 2002, and from 2000 to 2004 she was a consultant to the Ministry of Women's Rights, Child Development and Family Welfare. Patten was elected as a member of the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination Against Women in 2003. At times, she served as the committee's vice chairperson. In 2017, she resigned from the committee and on 12 April 2017, she was appointed by UN Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

as Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict with the rank of

. In November 2017, she visited Bangladesh to interview survivors of the

2016 Rohingya persecution in Myanmar The Rohingya genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the Muslim Rohingya people by the Burmese military. The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 ...

. That same month, she welcomed the Elsie Initiative to help increase women's participation in peacekeeping operations in a joint statement with fellow UN Under-Secretary-General and Executive Director of UN Women

Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka Phumzile Mlambo-Ngcuka (; born 3 November 1955), South African Government Information. is a South Africa, South African politician and former United Nations official, who served as the Executive Director of UN Women with the rank of Under-Secret ...

. On 16 November 2022, she received an Honorary Doctorate from the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (french: Université d'Ottawa), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ottawa ...

in recognition of her exceptional achievements and contributions to society, particularly regarding the issue of women, peace and security.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Patten, Pramila British barristers British women lawyers 20th-century Mauritian judges Alumni of University of London Worldwide Alumni of the University of London United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women members Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations 1958 births Living people Mauritian officials of the United Nations Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations 21st-century Mauritian lawyers