Elisabeth Tichy-Fisslberger, or Elisabeth Fisslberger, (born 1957) is an

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

n lawyer, translator and diplomat who was the first Austrian to serve as president of the

United Nations Human Rights Council The United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), CDH is a United Nations body whose mission is to promote and protect human rights around the world. The Council has 47 members elected for staggered three-year terms on a regional group basis. ...

for 2020.

Early life and education

Tichy-Fisslberger was born in

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in 1957. She studied law at the

University of Vienna The University of Vienna (german: Universität Wien) is a public research university located in Vienna, Austria. It was founded by Duke Rudolph IV in 1365 and is the oldest university in the German-speaking world. With its long and rich hist ...

whilst also studying French and Spanish translation. She gained a scholarship to study in Belgium at the Université catholique de Louvain.

Career

Tichy-Fisslberger was elected chair of the United Nations Human Rights Council in December 2019 to serve in 2020. The Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs,

Alexander Schallenberg Alexander Georg Nicolas Schallenberg (; born 20 June 1969) is an Austrian diplomat, jurist and politician who has served as Minister of Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Karl Nehammer since 2021, previously holding the office from ...

, noted that her appointment was a recognition of her country's human rights efforts. She was the first Austrian to hold this position in the United Nations. She took over the position from Coly Seck of Senegal who had held the position in 2019. Her vice-presidents were Ambassadors Nasir Ahmad Andisha of Afghanistan, Togo's Yackoley Kokou Johnson, Mexico's Socorro Flores Liera and Slovakia's Juraj Podhorsky.

Other activities

International Gender Champions International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kr ...

(IGC), MemberMembers

(IGC).

References

1957 births Living people Lawyers from Vienna Permanent Representatives of Austria to the United Nations Austrian women ambassadors Austrian people of Czech descent Diplomats from Vienna {{Austria-diplomat-stub