Dubravka Šimonović  is the UN Special Rapporteur on Violence against Women, its Causes and Consequences.  She has been Chairperson of the CEDAW Committee, of the Optional Protocol Working group, and of the UN Commission on the Status of Women. She was a member of the UNIFEM Consultative Committee and of the UN Women Advisory Panel for the report: Progress of the World’s Women: In pursuit of Justice. Dr Šimonović has published books and lectured on women’s rights and violence against women at Urban Morgan Institute for Human Rights, Harvard Law School, Nottingham University and at Women’s Human Rights Training Institute organized by the Bulgarian Gender Research Foundation for lawyers from Eastern Europe, CIS and Caucuses.