Mona Rishmawi

Mona Rishmawi is a former senior United Nations official with extensive experience in human rights, the rule of law, and transitional justice. She currently serves as a Member of the UN Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Sudan.

From 2022 to 2023, she headed the Office of the UN Special Envoy for Syria in Damascus, overseeing the UN’s engagement on political and humanitarian issues in one of the most complex crises of recent decades. For over a decade (2009–2022), she led the Rule of Law, Equality and Non-Discrimination Branch at the UN Human Rights Office (OHCHR), after previously serving as Chief of its Rule of Law and Democracy Unit and as Legal Adviser.

Earlier in her career, Ms. Rishmawi held senior advisory positions to two UN High Commissioners for Human Rights and served as Senior Human Rights and Women’s Rights Adviser to Special Representative Sérgio Vieira de Mello in Iraq. She was also Executive Director of the Secretariat of the International Commission of Inquiry on Darfur (2004–2005), established by Security Council resolution 1564.

Before joining the UN, she was the UN Independent Expert on the situation of human rights in Somalia (1996–2000) and Director of the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers at the International Commission of Jurists in Geneva. She began her career as a lawyer in the West Bank (1981–1991) and was a senior member of al-Haq, a leading Palestinian human rights organization.

Her research and publications focus on human rights, international humanitarian law, and international criminal law, with particular attention to accountability and justice frameworks in post-conflict transitions.