Melissa Parke
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Melissa Parke (b. 1966) has worked for the United Nations since 1999, most recently as a senior lawyer in the Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Management in the UN headquarters, New York. In this role Parke is responsible for aspects of management reform and for the provision of advice and oversight in respect of the UN system of justice administration.
Parke began her employment with the UN in the Office of Legal Affairs, Pristina, Kosovo, and subsequently also worked in Gaza and Beirut. In January 2006, Parke was seconded from the Department of Management to establish the new UN Ethics Office, laying the foundations for a permanent unit within the UN that would eventually serve 29,000 personnel worldwide.
In the second half of 2006, Parke worked as the Deputy Chief of Staff in the UN Commission, Beirut, Lebanon, investigating the assassination of the former Lebanese Prime Minister Rafik Hariri, and 15 other terrorist attacks in Lebanon.
Prior to joining the UN, Parke was a lecturer in the law school at Murdoch University, Western Australia. She also worked as the solicitor-in-charge of the Bunbury Community Legal Centre. Parke's community engagement and contributions have included being a Western Australian representative on the national council of the Australian Conservation Foundation, a spokesperson for the Communities for Coastal Conservation, and the President of Labor Lawyers (WA).
In 1996, Parke contested the Western Australian rural seat of Mitchell for the Australian Labor Party.
Parke grew up in the south-west of Western Australia on her parents’ apple farm in Donnybrook. She attended Bunbury Senior High School and later graduated with a Bachelor of Business from Curtin University of Technology. She completed a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) at the University of New South Wales and a Master of Laws (LLM) in Public International Law at Murdoch University.
[edit] References
- "Starting Operations, New UN Ethics Office Fields Staff Requests For Advice", Global Policy Forum,17 January 2006.
- University of New South Wales Faculty of Law Alumni]
- Murdoch University Annual Report 1999: See "Rebuilding Kosovo"
- 14 December 1996, WA State General Election for the District of Mitchell.
