Nahla Haidar El Addal

Nahla Haidar El Addal is a jurist with over 30 years of international service. Currently, she serves as Chairperson of the UN Committee on the Elimination of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW). Ms. Haidar is also a Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ).  
Prior to these appointments, Ms. Haidar served in various capacities in the United Nations System, both at Headquarters and in the field, covering the areas of social development, humanitarian action, peace building and human rights.  Ms. Haidar acted as the Rapporteur for the elaboration and adoption of CEDAW General Recommendation 37 on the Gender -related dimensions of disaster risk reduction in the context of climate change. CEDAW/C/GC/37.
Nahla Haidar El Addal holds an LLM in Law from Panthéon-Sorbonne, Paris, France, and a Law degree in International Law from Saint-Josef University (USJ) in Beirut, Lebanon as well as a “licence” in Sociology.  Arabic is her mother tongue and she is fluent in French and English, with a working knowledge of Spanish.