United Nations Division for the Advancement of Women
Roselyn Asumwa Odera elected Chair of the Preparatory Committee for the Beijing +5 Special Session of the General Assembly
Ms Roselyn Asumwa Odera, a national of Kenya, has been elected Chair by the members of the Commission on the Status of Women Acting as the Preparatory Committee for the Special Session of the General Assembly, "Women 2000: Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the 21st Century".
Since 1998, Ms Odera has been the Deputy Permanent Representative, and Head of Chancery, at her Government's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. From 1984 to 1997, Ms Odera served in the Kenya Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she began as assistant secretary/desk officer in the Division of Nordic and Mediterranean countries. She subsequently served as Second Secretary at the Kenyan Embassy to Belgium and the European Community, Brussels (1990-1995), Under-Secretary of the Africa & OAU Division (1995 -April, 1996), and Head of the Americas Division in March 1997.
Prior to serving in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Chair Elect worked as a consultant for UNEP and UNICEF from 1982 to 1984. Ms Odera began her career in 1980 as an information assistant in the Department of Public Information of the United Nations.Ms. Odera holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology and French Literature from Scripps College, Claremont, California, and a MA degree in French Literature from New York University.
Ms Odera was born in 1954. She is married.