Bjarney Friðriksdóttir

Thematic expertise: Human Rights (protection, monitoring, capacity building and development lending); Migration (forced and voluntary); Situations of Fragility, Conflict and Violence; Women, Peace and Security. 

Geographic expertise: Middle East and North Africa; Baltic Sea States; Sri Lanka; Western Balkan States.

Languages: English (Full professional proficiency); French, Spanish, German and Danish (Working professional proficiency).

Bjarney Friðriksdóttir is a human rights expert with extensive experience in capacity building, monitoring and reporting on human rights issues for United Nations agencies in conflict, post-conflict and humanitarian situations in Lebanon, Libya, Syria, Sri Lanka and Kosovo. As the international project manager for UNIFEM project office in Kosovo she worked on implementation of Security Council Resolution 1325 in Kosovo, Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, in particular women’s participation in political processes and legal reform. Additionally, she coordinated projects aimed at increasing cooperation between women’s organizations across borders and ethnic affiliations in Former Yugoslavia. She holds a PhD in Law, with a focus on labour migration and the principle of equal treatment and non-discrimination.  From 2019-2021 she was a researcher on human rights and migration at the Pedro Arrupe Human Rights Institiute, University of Deusto, Spain. From 2021-2023 she worked for the Human Rights Inclusion and Empowerment Trust Fund of the World Bank.