Under-Secretary-General Pramila Patten is the United Nations Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict.

Prior to this appointment and since 2003, Mrs. Patten served as a member of the Committee on the Elimination of all Forms of Discrimination against Women. She has been a member of several High Level Panels and Projects, including the High-Level Advisory Group for the Global Study on Implementation of Security Council resolution 1325 (2000) on women, peace and security, and the Advisory Panel for the African Women’s Rights Observatory within the United Nations Economic Commission for Africa. She previously was a Commissioner appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to the International Commission of Inquiry into the massacre in Guinea, Conakry, of 28 September 2009.

A national of Mauritius, she has been a practicing lawyer since 1982.