RUVENDRINI MENIKDIWELA
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Ruven Menikdiwela is currently serving as the UNHCR Representative in Pakistan, to which function she was appointed in September 2017. Prior to taking up her assignment in Pakistan, she was the UNHCR Representative in Thailand.
Ms. Menikdiwela’s career with UNHCR spans over 27 years and includes a range of functions both at UNHCR Headquarters as well as its country operations in Thailand (where she also served previously in 1993), Turkmenistan, and the United States. Ms. Menikdiwela obtained her LLB and her LLM in European Community and Public International Law from the University of Paris II. She is fluent in English and French.
Functions with UNHCR
- Sept 2017 UNHCR Representative in Pakistan
- 2015 – 2017 UNHCR Representative in Thailand
- 2011 – 2015 Head, Investigation Service, Inspector General’s Office, UNHCR Headquarters,Geneva
- 2007 – 2011 Deputy Director, Division of International protection, UNHCR Headquarters, Geneva
- 2004 – 2007 Head of Desk for the Middle East and North Africa, Regional Bureau for Central Asia, South West Asia, the Middle East and North Africa (CASWANAME), UNHCR Headquarters, Geneva
- 2001 – 2004 UNHCR Representative in Turkmenistan
- 1997 – 2001 Senior Legal Adviser, Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific, UNHCR Headquarters, Geneva
- 1993 – 1997 Protection Officer, UNHCR Representation in Thailand
- 1991 – 1993 Associate Legal Officer, UNHCR Representation in the United States
- 1988 – 1991 Associate Legal Officer, Division of Refugee Law and Doctrine, UNHCR Headquarters, Geneva
