Our Team and Leadership

Ms. Ana Peyró Llopis of Spain assumed her responsibilities as Acting Special Adviser and Head of the United Nations Investigative Team to Promote Accountability for Crimes Committed by Da’esh/ISIL (UNITAD) on 1 April 2024.  She brings over twenty years of experience in the field of international law, including roles in the United Nations and the Government of Spain.

Before joining UNITAD, Ms. Peyró Llopis served as Principal Legal Officer of the Office of Legal Affairs of the United Nations. In this role, she was involved in the establishment and operationalization of UNITAD. She also served as Acting Director of Legal Affairs of UNRWA.  Prior to joining the United Nations, she held various academic positions at universities in Spain, France and the United States and engaged in research initiatives at a global level.  She also served as Senior Legal Adviser at the Ministry of Justice of Spain.

She holds a PhD in International Law from the University of Paris 1 (Panthéon-Sorbonne-France) and the University Jaume I (Spain), a postdoc in international law from New York University, and Master’s degrees in International Law and International Organizations (Panthéon-Sorbonne-France), Constitutional Rights and Duties (Jaume I-Spain), and National Defense (Centro Superior de Estudios de la Defensa Nacional-Spain). She speaks fluent Spanish, French, English and Italian.

Between October 2021 and March 2024, UNITAD was headed by Mr. Christian Ritscher, Special Adviser to the Secretary-General and Head of the Investigative Team.

From the beginning of the Team’s work in 2018 till June 2021, Mr. Karim A. A. Khan KC severed as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General and Head of the Investigative Team.