Beate Andrees was appointed Regional Director of the ILO Regional Office for Europe and Central Asia, based in Geneva, on 1 July 2023.  Prior to her appointment, Ms Andrees served as Special Representative to the UN and Director of the ILO Office for the United Nations in New York from 2020-2023. In this capacity, she coordinated the ILO’s engagement in various UN and ECOSOC committees and facilitated the launch of the UN Global Accelerator on Jobs and Social Protection for Just Transitions.

From 2015-2020, Ms Andrees was the Chief of the ILO’s Fundamental Principals and Right at Work Branch. During this period, she played a key role in the design and consolidation of Alliance 8.7 - a multi-stakeholder partnership to end forced labour, modern slavery, human trafficking and child labour, in line with SDG target 8.7. She was also the ILO’s lead focal point in the organisation of the IV Global Conference for the Sustained Eradication of Child Labour, hosted by Argentina in 2017. In 2013-2014, as head of ILO’s Special Action Programme to Combat Forced Labour, Ms Andrees coordinated efforts which led to the adoption of the 2014 Protocol to the Forced Labour Convention (1930). She also occupied senior advisory roles in ILO Secretariats leading to the adoption of Resolutions on Fundamental Principles and Rights at Work in 2012 and 2017, and represented the ILO in numerous UN mechanisms, initiatives and conferences.

Ms. Andrees studied political science and history in Jena, Toronto and Berlin. She holds a master’s degree and PhD from the Freie University of Berlin. Prior to joining the ILO in 2003, she worked on special assignments for the public relations department of the German Parliament and lectured at the Freie University on gender, human rights and development.