Elisabeth Rehn is a Finnish politician and was a Member of Parliament from 1979–1995. During that time, she was appointed Minister of Defence from 1990–1995 and Minister of Equality Affairs from 1991–1995. In 1994, she stood for President and again in 2000. She was a Member of the European Parliament from 1995–1996.
She served as UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of Human Rights in The Republic of Croatia, FRY, Bosnia and Herzegovina and FYROM from 1995 to 1998, when she was appointed UN Under-Secretary-General, Special Representative of Secretary-General in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Between 2001 and 2003, she was UNIFEM’s independent expert on women’s role in peace-building.
Rehn served as Chair of WWF, Finland from 2000 to 2006, and Vice Chair of the Board of Suomen Unifem ry from 2003 to 2005. In 2003 she chaired the Table I working group of the the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe, and in 2004 was appointed by the UNDP to provide an Independent Expert Review on the Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People in the Occupied Territories. In 2010-11 she was a member of the High Level Panel commissioned by UNHCHR on reparations to victims of sexual violence in DRC.
Elisabeth Rehn is a member of the Advisory Board for the European Leadership Network (ELN).