Rita Izsák-Ndiaye is an Assistant Secretary-General level human rights expert at the United Nations. She is the former UN Special Rapporteur on Minority Issues, and currently serves as the Rapporteur and a Member of the Elimination of Racial Discrimination (CERD).

Inspired by her own experiences of prejudice and discrimination based on her partly Roma origin, Rita works closely with victim groups, NGOs, governments, and international organisations around the world to better protect the rights of disadvantaged, discriminated and impoverished communities. Rita has been actively working in the areas of criminal justice systems, freedom of speech and hate speech, conflict and mass atrocity prevention, the responsibility to protect, and humanitarian affairs and reported regularly to the UN Human Rights Council and the General Assembly. She has also been successfully leading the UN Forum on Minority Issues in Geneva for 6 years. Her work has taken her to 50 countries, including official missions to Iraq, Somalia, Cameroon, Nigeria, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Republic of Moldova, Sri Lanka, and Brazil. Rita’s landmark reports and speeches have played an important role in understanding the particular challenges of minorities all around the world and resulted in crucial international recommendations on better cohesion and unity of societies.

Prior to joining the UN, Rita served as a Chief of Staff for the Hungarian Ministry of Justice and Public Administration. During this role, she was responsible for several key priorities under Hungary’s EU Presidency, including the establishment of the European Framework for National Roma Integration Strategies. Rita also served as the President and Director of the Tom Lantos Institute and worked for a diverse range of non-governmental and international organisations focused on the elimination of racial discrimination and protection of minorities, with a special focus on women and children. She has also been a strategic advisor and board member of several international organisations.

Rita holds a Masters in Law degree from the Péter Pázmány Catholic University, Budapest.