Harriet Solloway is an expert in international administrative law, humanitarian law, and criminal law who has dedicated most of her career to the advancement of human rights and the rule of law. She joined the United Nations (UN) Department of Safety and Security in 2016, where she worked until recently as Chief, Field Support Service and Deputy Director of the Division of Operational Support.
Ms. Solloway began her career in Montréal, working in labour relations and criminal defence. In 1996, she began working internationally, first as an investigator at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and then as a legal adviser, where she guided the investigation conducted by a team of sex crime investigators. She then worked as the Legal Adviser to the Head of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) in Kosovo. She also served in Vienna as the Legal Adviser to the OSCE Secretary-General and in The Hague as the Head of the Victims and Witnesses Unit for the International Criminal Court. In 2004, she was appointed Director of the Rule of Law Section at the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where she created and oversaw the work of Prosecution Support Cells composed of Congolese and international investigators that investigated and prosecuted war crimes. This was followed by roles as Military Justice Adviser for the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations and Legal Adviser and Acting Chief of Staff for the UN Peacekeeping Mission in the Central African Republic.
Ms. Solloway has worked for the defence and the prosecution, including investigations, and has led reform and capacity-building efforts for the justice sector, including the judiciary. She has also worked extensively in management, operational policy-making, and change management at the senior executive level. She has experience promoting stakeholder engagement, collaboration, and consensus-building across a wide range of interlocutors and organizations, where multiple perspectives and interests are at play.
Ms. Solloway holds a Master’s degree in Public International Law from Leiden University, in The Netherlands, a licentiate in Civil Law from the University of Ottawa, and a Bachelor’s degree in Industrial Relations from McGill University.