Subhas Gujadhur is a diplomat with over fifteen years of experience in both bilateral and multilateral contexts. Most recently, Subhas served at the Mauritius Permanent Missions in New York and in Geneva, where he has focused in particular on human rights and the international human rights system.
From 2008 to 2012, he was Mauritius’ chief negotiator on the Human Rights Council. During this time, he worked on many of the most crucial resolutions before the Council – both in a national capacity and as lead negotiator for the African Group. He led negotiations, for example, on the establishment of a new UN human rights Trust Fund for Least Developed Countries and Small Island Developing States. Subhas also served as rapporteur for the Universal Periodic Reviews of Burundi, Azerbaijan, Kazakhstan, Albania, Mauritania and New Zealand. In 2009, he had overall responsibility for Mauritius’ re-election campaign to the Council. Earlier, in New York, Subhas held various senior positions including that of Vice President of the Special Political and Decolonization Committee of the United Nations and Secretary of the Ad-Hoc African Working Group on the Reform of the United Nations.
During his time as a diplomat in New York and Geneva, Subhas has written and spoken extensively about human rights. He acted as Moderator for the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), consulted on strengthening the treaty bodies, and has spoken as an expert panelist during events organised by La Francophonie, the Commonwealth, OHCHR, the International Service for Human Rights, Quaker Foundation and the Friedrich Ebert Stiftung Foundation. He has prepared several papers and reports related to human rights including a review of the Human Rights Council, national reports of Mauritius under the Universal Periodic Review, and the national strategy paper on the role of Mauritius in the Human Rights Council.
