Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo
Senior Operations Officer | The World Bank
Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo is trained as a human rights lawyer. She obtained a Master of International Law at the University of Warsaw in Poland, and thereafter studied for a LL.M. at Cornell Law School in New York.
In August 1999, she was appointed by President Nelson Mandela to the South African Human Rights Commission. She was subsequently reappointed by President Mbeki in October 2002. In 2004, on a leave of absence from the Commission, she joined the World Bank in Washington DC. In her position at the Bank, she works in the East Asia and the Pacific region and the Africa region as a senior operations specialist.
Over the years she has worked primarily in the area of human rights, with a particular interest in marginalized groups: children, women and people with disabilities. Before joining the South African Human Rights Commission she was a Project Officer on Child Protection for UNICEF. She has served as an expert on a number of UN Committees in the areas of child rights, the right for food and the rights of people with disabilities. She also represented the National Human Rights Institutions at the UN during the process of developing a Convention for People with Disabilities. Ms. McClain-Nhlapo served on the editorial board on the UN study on violence against children. In addition, she continues to serve on a number of community boards. She was until recently the deputy Chairperson of the Council of the University of South Africa (UNISA). Ms. McClain-Nhlapo has written widely on human rights issues and is committed to social justice.
Charlotte McClain-Nhlapo is speaking on the Business Value of Accessibility panel.
