Najat Maalla M'jid

Moroccan pediatrician and politician

Najat Maalla M'jid is a Moroccan pediatrician^[1] who serves as the United Nations Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Violence against Children. She was appointed to the role by Secretary-General of the United Nations António Guterres in May 2019. M'jid previously served as the Special Rapporteur on the sale of children, child prostitution and child pornography from 2008 to 2014.^[2]

Early life and education

M'jid studied medicine at the University of Bordeaux and received a doctorate in general medicine from the University of Rabat. She also received a master's in human rights from the Human Rights Institute in Switzerland.^[3]

Career

After university, M'jid worked as a doctor and became the Head of the Pediatric Department and Director of the Hay Hassani Mother-Child hospital in Casablanca. She founded the Non-governmental organization Bayti, which works with homeless youth in Morocco.

M'jid has served as a member of the Moroccan National Council on Human Rights and the Board of the African Child Policy Forum.^[4] In 2017 and 2018, she chaired a global task force to end the sexual exploitation of children in travel and tourism set up by ECPAT International.^[5]^[6]

References

^ Rick Gladstone (7 May 2014), Real Threat in a Known Market for Children New York Times.
^ "Secretary-General Appoints Najat Maalla M'jid of Morocco Special Representative on Violence against Children | Meetings Coverage and Press Releases". www.un.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
^ Owen-Jones, Juliette (2019-07-03). "Morocco's Dr. Najat Maalla M'jid Steps into UN Special Representative Role". Morocco World News. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
^ "Dr Najat Maalla M'jid". www.africanchildforum.org. Archived from the original on 2019-08-04. Retrieved 2019-08-04.
^ Daniela Petrova (11 May 2017), A Vacation With a Purpose: Fighting Trafficking in Thailand New York Times.
^ Anastasia Moloney (7 June 2018), Child sex tourism fueled by cheap travel, technology - experts Reuters.

United Nations special rapporteurs

Countries and territories

Burundi (Fortuné Gaetan Zongo)
Cambodia (Vitit Muntarbhorn)
Iran (Javaid Rehman)
Myanmar (Tom Andrews)
North Korea (Elizabeth Salmón)
Palestine (Francesca Albanese)
Somalia (Isha Dyfan)

Thematic mandates

Adequate Housing (Balakrishnan Rajagopal)
Contemporary Forms of Slavery (Tomoya Obokata)
Cultural Rights (Alexandra Xanthaki)
Democratic and Equitable International Order (Livingstone Sewanyana)
Education (Farida Shaheed)
Effects of Economic Reform Policies and Foreign Debt on Human Rights (Attiya Waris)
Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions (Morris Tidball-Binz)
Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association (Clément Nyaletsossi Voule)
Freedom of Opinion and Expression (Irene Khan)
Freedom of Religion or Belief (Nazila Ghanea)
Human Rights Defenders (Mary Lawlor)
Independence of Judges and Lawyers (Margaret Satterthwaite)
Minority Issues (Fernand de Varennes)
Negative Impact of the Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights (Alena Douhan)
Physical and Mental Health (Tlaleng Mofokeng)
Protecting Human Rights while Countering Terrorism (Ben Saul)
Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Ashwini K.P.)
Right to Food (Michael Fakhri)
Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children (Najat Maalla M'jid)
Torture (Alice Jill Edwards)
Trafficking in Persons (Siobhán Mullally)
Truth, Justice, Reparation and Guarantees of non-Recurrence (Fabián Salvioli)
Violence against Women (Reem Alsalem)
Human Rights and Access to Safe Drinking Water and Sanitation (Pedro Arrojo Agudo)
Human Rights and International Solidarity (Cecilia Bailliet)
Human Rights and the Illicit Movement of Toxic Waste (Marcos A. Orellana)
Human Rights and Transnational Corporations and other Business Enterprises (Damilola Olawuyi)
Human Rights of Indigenous People (Francisco Cali Tzay)
Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons (Paula Gaviria Betancur)
Human Rights of Migrants (François Crépeau)
Human Rights and the Environment (David Boyd)

United Nations special rapporteurs bear mandates from the United Nations Human Rights Council and may hold the titles special rapporteur, independent expert or special representative of the Secretary-General, and are also referred to simply as mandate-holders.