Najat Maalla M'jid is a Moroccan paediatrician who serves as the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

br>Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children
She was appointed to the role by

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

in May 2019. M'jid previously served as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography from 2008 to 2014.

Early life and education

M'jid studied medicine at the

University of Bordeaux The University of Bordeaux (, ) is a public research university based in Nouvelle-Aquitaine in southwestern France. It has several campuses in the cities and towns of Bordeaux, Dax, Gradignan, Périgueux, Pessac, and Talence. There are al ...

and received a doctorate in general medicine from the University of Rabat. She also received a master's in

human rights Human rights are universally recognized Morality, moral principles or Social norm, norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both Municipal law, national and international laws. These rights are considered ...

from the Human Rights Institute in

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

Career

After university, M'jid worked as a doctor and became the Head of the Pediatric Department and Director of the Hay Hassani Mother-Child hospital in

Casablanca Casablanca (, ) is the largest city in Morocco and the country's economic and business centre. Located on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of the Chaouia (Morocco), Chaouia plain in the central-western part of Morocco, the city has a populatio ...

. She founded the

Non-governmental organization A non-governmental organization (NGO) is an independent, typically nonprofit organization that operates outside government control, though it may get a significant percentage of its funding from government or corporate sources. NGOs often focus ...

Bayti, which works with homeless youth in Morocco. M'jid has served as a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and the Board of the African Child Policy Forum. In 2017 and 2018, she chaired a global task force to end the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism set up by ECPAT International.Anastasia Moloney (7 June 2018)
Child sex tourism fueled by cheap travel, technology - experts
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''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:M'jid, Najat Maalla Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Mohammed V University alumni Moroccan expatriates in France Moroccan officials of the United Nations 21st-century Moroccan physicians 21st-century Moroccan women scientists Moroccan women diplomats Moroccan women physicians Neonatologists Pediatricians Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations United Nations special rapporteurs University of Bordeaux alumni Women pediatricians