First Muslim Women to lead A . Int

[Abdur_Rahman]

Amnesty International gets its first Muslim, woman head

New Delhi, August 20, IRNA -- When Bangladeshi Irene Zubaida Khan
took over as Secretary General of Amnesty International (AI), she
became the first woman, the first Asian and the first Muslim to head
the human rights watchdog.
According to the Indian Express, an English daily published from
New Delhi, 44-year-old Khan, who has served as the UNHCR chief of
mission in India, formally replaced Senegal's Pierre Sane as head of
the London-based organization on Friday after a 21-year career with
the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
Born on December 24, 1956 in the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, she
is an expert in public law and human rights law after studies at the
University of Manchester, England, and at Harvard Law school in the
U.S.
She began her career as a legal assistant with the International
Commission of Lawyers in Geneva, before joining the UNHCR in 1980 as
a counselor for the protection of refugees.
During postings in South-East Asia, Pakistan, Britain and the
Republic of Ireland, Khan is said to have always been particularly
motivated by her work in the field.
In 1995, the UNHCR appointed her chief of mission of their Indian
bureau, where she was responsible for the protection of 2,00,000
refugees. Three years later, she was named head of information and
research at the agency, before becoming Deputy Director of the
International Protection Service in 1999.
IND/LS/RR

[banglababu]

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