Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh
Deputy Director, Division of International Protection, UNHCR
Shahrzad Tadjbakhsh is the Deputy Director in the Division of International Protection at UNHCR Headquarters, responsible for the legal and policy work of the organization for refugees and stateless persons. She began her career with UNHCR in 1994 as a protection officer in Malaysia, then Rwanda in the aftermath of the genocide before moving to UNHCR Headquarters to serve in a number of capacities, including as the Legal Advisor for Refugee Women and Children. She subsequently moved to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, where she was responsible for the human rights programme in Afghanistan and also served as Chief of Staff for two High Commissioners, Louise Arbour and Navi Pillay, before returning to UNHCR in 2017. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree with Honours from Northwestern University and a JD from University of Maryland School of Law.
Marije Van Kempen
Partnerships Officer, UNHCR
Marije van Kempen currently works for UNHCR’s Division of Resilience and Solutions where she focuses on UNHCR’s engagement with development and peace partners. Prior to this she worked for UNHCR’s Division of International Protection. Before joining UNHCR, Marije worked for the Netherlands Government, the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations (DPKO), and the UN Development Programme (UNDP) in both headquarters and field locations (Afghanistan and South Sudan). She holds a BSc and MSc in political science, and a LLB and LLM in law from the University of Amsterdam.
Cornelis (Kees) Wouters
Senior Refugee Law Advisor, Division of International Protection, UNHCR
Cornelis (Kees) Wouters (@keeswou) is the senior refugee law advisor focusing on developing UNHCR legal guidance, legislative engagement and providing advice on refugee law matters both internally and to partners. Between 2009 and 2015 he was also responsible for steering UNHCR’s global judicial engagement strategy. In the past, he has worked at the Institute of Immigration Law at Leiden University (the Netherlands), the Institute of Human Rights and Peace Studies at Mahidol University (Thailand), the Centre for Housing Rights and Evictions in Sri Lanka and Cambodia, Amnesty International the Netherlands and the Dutch Council for Refugees. He holds a master’s degree and a PhD in law from Leiden University.
Ferdila Ouattara
Senior Protection Officer, UNHCR
Ferdila Ouattara is currently Senior Protection Officer in UNHCR’s Country Office in Brazzaville. She has worked for UNHCR since November 2006 in various capacities, including protection. She has been providing technical support to countries affected by forced displacement and advocating for people of concern to UNHCR. She has worked on forced displacement issues in Cote d’Ivoire, Chad, Niger, DRC, CAR and the Republic of Congo. She holds a Master Degree in Human rights Law that she obtained in 2014 in Nantes (France) and a Master Degree in International and European Law that she obtained in 2003 at Aix-Marseille University (France).
Questions Submitted
Mahaman Mourtala
- Sep 18, 2021Anvar
- Jun 4, 2021MOHAMMAD
- Jan 13, 2021Jared Troy
- Oct 29, 2020Joy Mildred Adhiambo
- Aug 12, 2020