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Mary Therese Winifred Robinson served as the seventh President of Ireland from December 1990 to September 1997, becoming the first woman to hold this office. She also served as United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights from 1997 to 2002 and a Senator for the University of Dublin from 1969 to 1989. She first rose to prominence as an academic, barrister and campaigner. After leaving the United Nations in 2002, Robinson formed Realizing Rights: the Ethical Globalization Initiative, which came to a planned end at the end of 2010.

Robinson is Chairman of the Institute for Human Rights and Business, Chancellor of the University of Dublin, the Professor of Practice in International Affairs at Columbia University, Chair of the International Institute for Environment and Development (IIED), and is also a founding member and chair of the Council of Women World Leaders.

_{Photo Credit: UN Photo/Paulo Filgueiras}