Ms. Mariana Katzarova (Bulgaria) was appointed Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Russian Federation by the UN Human Rights Council on 4 April 2023, assuming duties on 1 May 2023. She previously led the OHCHR examination team on human rights in Belarus (2021–2022) and the Human Rights Monitoring Mission in Ukraine as head of the of the regional office in Eastern Ukraine (2014–2016). She has held leading roles at Amnesty International and the Lawyers’ Committee for Human Rights. In 2006, she founded RAW in WAR (Reach All Women in War) and established the Anna Politkovskaya Award to honor women human rights defenders in conflict zones.