Published: 01:22 AM, 30 August 2026
Irene Khan takes charge as Bangladesh's UN envoy
Prominent human rights advocate Irene Zubaida Khan has formally taken charge as Bangladesh's permanent representative to the United Nations.
Irene presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres at the UN headquarters in New York onFriday, according to a statement from Bangladesh's Permanent Mission to the UN, bdnews24 reports.
The move formally begins her tenure as Bangladesh's ambassador and permanent representative to the world body.
Irene was appointed to the post on Jul 8 with the rank and privileges of a state minister.
She succeeds Salahuddin Noman Chowdhury, who is being brought back from the United States to take over as foreign secretary, according to foreign ministry officials.
Irene brings decades of experience in human rights and international organisations to the diplomatic role.
Since Aug 1, 2020, she has served as the UN special rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, becoming the first woman to hold the position.
Before that, she was secretary-general of Amnesty International for eight years from 2001.
She later headed the International Development Law Organization, an intergovernmental body focused on the rule of law and sustainable development, from 2012 to 2019.
Irene began her international career with the UN refugee agency, UNHCR, where she worked for 21 years in roles at its headquarters and across several countries, including as head of mission in India.
She has also worked extensively in academia.
Irene is a faculty member at the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. She was a visiting professor at the State University of New York's law school in 2011 and served as chancellor of the University of Salford in the United Kingdom from 2009 to 2015.
She has served on the World Bank's Gender Advisory Council, a UNAIDS high-level panel on HIV prevention and human rights, and the advisory board of the UN Global Compact.
Her other roles have included positions on the governing bodies of the Overseas Development Institute in the UK, BRAC in Bangladesh and Uganda's BarefootLaw.
Irene was also consulting editor of The Daily Star from 2010 to 2011.
She studied at the University of Manchester and Harvard Law School and has received several international honours for her work on human rights, including the Sydney Peace Prize in 2006.
