Regional Director, Alia El-YASSIR
Alia El-Yassir was appointed as the new Regional Director for UN Women Asia and the Pacific as well as UN Women Representative to the Kingdom of Thailand in September 2023. Previously, she served as UN Women Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia and UN Women Representative to the Republic of Türkiye (2018-2023).
She has been working on gender equality and women’s empowerment within the United Nations system since the Fourth World Conference on Women in 1995. She has extensive experience of working as a UN Women Representative at the country level managing normative, coordination, and operational work within complex contexts that span the development, humanitarian, and political continuum. She has also served at HQ level supporting UN Women’s global programmatic work. In her country, regional, and global roles, she has built strong partnerships with and among diverse groups of stakeholders to advance the rights of women and girls.
Before joining the UN system, Ms. El-Yassir worked as a teacher and developed educational media for children, in addition to volunteering with a number of women’s and human rights non-governmental organizations.
Alia El-Yassir holds a BSc degree in Biology (with a specialization in Ecology) from McGill University and an MSc degree in Desert Studies (with a specialization in Gender Studies) from Ben Gurion University of the Negev.