Ms. Tamara Cummings-John joined UN Women in February 2017 as its first Global Workplace Relations Advisor. The role was created in response to the 2014 Global Workforce Survey where colleagues requested a channel for receiving guidance and support for addressing workplace grievances. Having spent two years in Human Resources in Headquarters, Tamara joined the East and Southern Africa Regional office in 2019, as HR Business Partner. She acts as the Lead for the regional implementation of HR Policies, Guidelines and Procedures including with respect to recruitment, workplace relations, prevention of sexual exploitation and abuse and sexual harassment and performance management. Before joining UN Women, Tamara worked as a Legal Officer in the Office of the Legal Counsel in the Office of Legal Affairs for 6 years providing legal advice and support to UN Peacekeeping Operations as well as to UN entities, funds and programmes on their engagement with the International Criminal Court. Prior to joining the Office of Legal Affairs, Tamara worked in the Office of the Prosecutor in both the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone for 6 years.

 
Tamara holds a Masters’ degree in Human Rights Law. She speaks fluent English, French and Krio and has a working knowledge of Kiswahili and Spanish. She is committed to gender equality and women’s empowerment both in her professional and private life through her engagement with NGOs working with girls in Sierra Leone.