Mrs. Halima El Ouarzazi

Mrs. Halima El Ouarzazi was born on April 17th, 1933 in Casablanca.

She was elected to the Human Rights Council Advisory Committee without ballot in 2008.

Mrs. El Ouarzazi, holder of a BA in arts from the University of Cairo, was among the first Moroccan women to hold diplomatic posts.

Mrs. El Ouarzazi, who was a cultural attachée at the Embassy of Morocco in Washington from 1959 to 1967, was elected in 1973 to the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

In 1973, she became an expert member of the UN Special Commission Against Apartheid and Racial Discrimination.

Mrs. El Ouarzazi, who is an elected member of the Council and of the Executive Committee of the International Institute for Human Rights, is among the 26 expert members of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, which the UN Commission on Human Rights has elected for a three-year term.

In 1980, Mrs. El Ouarzazi was elected recorder of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities in Geneva.
In 1985, she was elected in Geneva president-recorder of the UN Sub-Commission working group, which was in charge of studying the traditional practices affecting women’s and child’s health.

Mrs. El Ouarzazi was appointed in 1989 Director of the International Organizations Department at the Ministry of the state in charge of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation.

In 1992, she was elected President of the 3rd session of the Preparatory Committee of the Human Rights World Conference. She was re-elected expert at the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.

Mrs. El Ouarzazi was elected the same year president of the Working Group on the New Forms of Racism at the UN Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities. In 1997, she was unanimously elected Vice President of the 49th session of the Sub-Commission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities.