Lara Scarpitta

Lara Scarpitta is the OSCE Senior Adviser on Gender Issues in the Office of the Secretary General. She is an expert on peace mediation and Women, Peace and Security (WPS) with over a decade of experience in promoting the role of women in conflict and post-conflict countries in South East Europe and in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Prior to joining the OSCE, she worked for over 15 years for the EU and served in Bosnia and Herzegovina (2008-2012), Turkey (2012-2017) and Brussels (2017-2019). From 2020 to 2022, she worked as Political Adviser on Peace, Mediation and Gender at the EU Delegation to the United Nations in Geneva, focusing on the MENA region. She was instrumental in the creation in 2018 of the Syrian Women Platform, an EU-supported initiative linking Syrian grassroots female activists with negotiators in the UN-led Syria Peace Process. Dr. Scarpitta is a member of Women in International Security - Italy and since 2019 she has also been advising the Centre for World Religions, Diplomacy and Conflict Resolution at George Mason University on Gender and Women, Peace and Security. Born in Sanremo (Italy), she holds a PhD in Russian and East European Studies and an MA in European Studies from the University of Birmingham.