Amat Al Alim Alsoswa

Who is Amat Al Alim Alsoswa?

Amat Al Alim Alsoswa served as the Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of United Nations Development Program and Director of its Regional Bureau for Arab States.

Alsoswa was born in Taiz, Yemen and holds a B.A. in Mass Communications from Cairo University and an M.A. in International Communications from the American University in Washington, DC. She speaks Arabic and English fluently and communicates in French and Russian. She was the first woman undersecretary in the Ministry of Information, first woman Ambassador and first female Minister.

At a young age, Alsoswa began her career as journalist of the nation. She began broadcasting at the age of 10 in a local radio program in the Governorate of Taiz. Later on, Alsoswa she was a TV anchor in Yemen's Television where she served as a political commentator and news broadcaster. Between 1984 and 1986, she worked as Deputy TV Programs Director at Sana’a TV, where she held the most senior position as a woman in Yemeni television. Subsequently, she became Chief Editor of Mutaba’at I’elamiah Journal, a monthly magazine focusing on communications and media affairs. From 1989 to 1991, Alsoswa led the Yemeni Women’s Union before Yemen’s reunification. From 1997 to 1999, she was Undersecretary at Yemen’s Ministry of Information and Chairperson of the National Women’s Committee. Between 2000 and 2003, she served as Yemen’s ambassador to Sweden, Denmark and the Netherlands, where she was Yemen’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, based in The Hague. In May 2003, Alsoswa was appointed the Minister of Human Rights in Yemen, the first human rights woman Minister in Yemen’s history. During her tenure, she established and oversaw Yemen’s first Human Rights Ministry, initiated the country’s first national human rights report, and established a public human rights resource center.