Klentiana Mahmutaj

Mahmutaj was born in Tirana, Albania, and graduated in 1997 from Sami Frashëri High School. During her teens, she presented programmes on national television and radio[3] and wrote and published works of poetry.[4][5] Mahmutaj studied law for a year at University of Tirana before leaving for the United Kingdom on a scholarship.

In 1999-2000 Mahmutaj worked for the British Red Cross assisting in the re-settlement of Kosovar refugees in the UK shortly after NATO's intervention in Kosovo.[6] In 2005-2006 she worked as a radio presenter for the BBC World Service, Albanian Section.[6] Mahmutaj was called to the Bar of England & Wales in 2005, becoming the first Albanian national to qualify as a barrister in the United Kingdom.

Mahmutaj practises in white-collar crime, human rights and international arbitration, frequently advising on the impact of domestic legislation on the UK's obligations in human rights law.[1][7]

In 2007, her book NATO's Intervention in Kosovo: Legal Right or Legal Wrong was published in Albania with a preface by Sir Christopher Greenwood GBE CMG QC.[8]

In 2015, Mahmutaj wrote an article published in The Daily Telegraph on her upbringing in Albania and the role of women in demanding professions, which received worldwide attention.[9]

In 2018, Mahmutaj represented the Government of Albania at a session of the United Nations Human Rights Council's negotiations on the Zero Draft Treaty on Business and Human Rights in Geneva.[10] Mahmutaj has also acted as a consultant to the Slynn Foundation on the work it carried out, under the aegis of the UK's Foreign and Commonwealth Office, on reform of the legal profession in Albania, a project overseen by the late Sir Henry Brooke CMG.[11]

In March 2020 Mahmutaj was appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council as an independent expert on the Mechanism on the Right to Development,[12] being the first time that an Albanian national was appointed through the Special Procedures selection process for a United Nations mandate.[13] Mahmutaj's mandate was extended by a further three years in February 2023.[14]

Mahmutaj has spoken at legal conferences and has published widely in the UK and abroad in the areas of criminal law,[15] human rights[10][15] and international arbitration.[16] In November 2022, Mahmutaj spoke at COP27 in Sharm El-Sheikh for a panel examining the "Business Perspective on the Climate Change-Human Rights Nexus" hosted by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

In September 2022, Mahmutaj was described by The Daily Telegraph as "perhaps – after Rita Ora and fellow singer Dua Lipa – the most high-profile Albanian in Britain".[2]