Awa Dabo is a human rights lawyer with extensive experience in crisis recovery, peace building, transitional justice, humanitarian affairs and development. Awa has held several positions within the United Nations including as the Director and Deputy Head of the UN’s Peacebuilding and Peace Support Office, in New York. Awa was previously Chief of Country Oversight and Support, UNDP Regional Bureau for Africa, Senior Advisor and Head of the Crisis and Fragility Policy and Engagement team for the Crisis Bureau of UNDP, Country Director for UNDP in Tanzania, and Regional Programme Manager and Team Leader with UNDP’s Bureau for Crisis Prevention and Recovery.
Awa has experience both at HQ and at country offices, having worked on and/or in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, and Europe. Awa has also worked with UNDP’s Crisis Response Unit in New York, as Crisis Coordinator for Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean. With UNDP in Geneva, Awa worked as Transitional Governance Specialist, and subsequently as Reintegration Specialist. With UNDP Liberia, Awa was the Chief Technical Specialist and Programme Manager, Human Rights and Protection Programme.
During her professional career, Awa has worked with other UN and non-UN entities including the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), the UN Department for Peacekeeping Operations (UN DPKO, now DPO) and the African Society of International and Comparative law - an international law NGO previously based in London England.
Awa holds an LLM in International Human Rights Law from the University of Nottingham (1996) and a BA in Law, Sociology and Social Anthropology from the University of Keele (1994).
Awa is currently the Deputy High Commissioner for Human Rights, and is a dual national of the Gambia, and the United Kingdom.
