Mai Sato - Misplaced Pages

Japanese academic and UN Special Rapporteur

Mai Sato

United Nations Special Rapporteur on Human Rights in Iran
Incumbent
Assumed office July 2024
Preceded by	Javaid Rehman

Personal details
Born	Tokyo
Alma mater	King's College London Academic appointments: Australian National University Monash University Birkbeck, London

Mai Sato (佐藤舞) is a Japanese born academic with an interest in international human rights law and the death penalty. In 2024, she was appointed the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran.

Life and career

Sato was born and grew up in Tokyo. She studied social sciences in the United Kingdom, receiving a PhD from King's College London in 2011, and working at the Universities of Reading and the Oxford. Moving to Australia in February 2019, she was an associate professor at the Australian National University and then Monash University.

Her principal focus has been on the death penalty and has worked on projects on the death penalty in Asia and Africa. She has also established and helps run CrimeInfo, an NGO which promotes the abolition of capital punishment in Japan and has made a documentary film on this subject.

In July 2024, Sato was appointed the United Nations Special Rapporteur on human rights in Iran, commencing her duties on 1 August 2024. The appointment was for a three-year term, that can be extended. The number of executions in Iran is among the highest in the world, which relates the appointment to Sato's area of expertise.

In addition, she was appointed Professor and Director of the Institute for Crime and Justice Policy Research at Birkbeck, University of London from February 2025.

References

Baillie, Adam (11 July 2024). "New UN rights rapporteur for Iran is a highly regarded expert". Iran International. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
^ "Mai Sato takes up role of MCJR convenor". Australian National University. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
"UN Names New Human Rights Rapporteur". International Iran Times. Archived from the original on 28 November 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
^ "Mai Sato". Monash University. Archived from the original on 20 September 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
"Dr Mai Sato". ICPR. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
"Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran". ohchr.org. Archived from the original on 22 November 2024. Retrieved 1 December 2024.
"Iran halts execution of three protesters after online campaign". BBC. 19 July 2020. Retrieved 30 November 2024.

v t e United Nations special rapporteurs
Countries & territories	Belarus (Anaïs Marin) Burundi (Fortuné Gaetan Zongo) Cambodia (Vitit Muntarbhorn) Iran (Mai Sato) Myanmar (Tom Andrews) North Korea (Elizabeth Salmón) Palestine (Francesca Albanese) Russian Federation (Mariana Katzarova) Somalia (Isha Dyfan)
(Human Rights) Thematic mandates	Adequate Housing (Balakrishnan Rajagopal) Albinism (Muluka-Anne Miti-Drummond) Assembly and association (Gina Romero) Climate Change (Elisa Morgera) Contemporary Forms of Slavery (Tomoya Obokata) Cultural Rights (Alexandra Xanthaki) Democratic and Equitable International Order (Livingstone Sewanyana) Disabilities (Heba Hagrass) Education (Farida Shaheed) Effects of Economic Reform Policies and Foreign Debt on Human Rights (Attiya Waris) Environment (Astrid Puentes Riaño) Extrajudicial, Summary or Arbitrary Executions (Morris Tidball-Binz) Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association (Clément Nyaletsossi Voule) Freedom of Opinion and Expression (Irene Khan) Freedom of Religion or Belief (Nazila Ghanea) Human Rights Defenders (Mary Lawlor) Independence of Judges and Lawyers (Margaret Satterthwaite) Indigenous People (Francisco Cali Tzay) Internally Displaced Persons (Paula Gaviria Betancur) International Solidarity (Cecilia Bailliet) Leprosy (Beatriz Miranda-Galarza) Migrants (François Crépeau) Minority Issues (Fernand de Varennes) Negative Impact of the Unilateral Coercive Measures on the Enjoyment of Human Rights (Alena Douhan) Physical and Mental Health (Tlaleng Mofokeng) Privacy (Ana Brian Nougrères) Protecting Human Rights while Countering Terrorism (Ben Saul) Racism, Racial Discrimination, Xenophobia and Related Intolerance (Ashwini K.P.) Right to Food (Michael Fakhri) Sale and Sexual Exploitation of Children (Najat Maalla M'jid) Torture (Alice Jill Edwards) Trafficking in Persons (Siobhán Mullally) Transnational Corporations (Damilola Olawuyi) Truth, Justice, Reparation & non-Recurrence (Fabián Salvioli) Violence against Women (Reem Alsalem) Water and Sanitation (Pedro Arrojo Agudo) Illicit Movement of Toxic Waste (Marcos A. Orellana)
United Nations special rapporteurs bear mandates from the United Nations Human Rights Council and may hold the titles special rapporteur, independent expert or special representative of the Secretary-General, and are also referred to simply as mandate-holders.

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