Maria Leissner

Ambassador Maria Leissner has broad experience of international diplomacy and currently serves as Coordinator for the Swedish Foreign Ministry’s Drive for Democracy.

She was Ambassador to Sierra Leone, Benin, Cote d’Ivoire, Gambia, Guinea and Senegal 2017 – 2021, Ambassador to Guatemala 2000-2004 and Ambassador-at-Large for Democracy at the Ministry 2006-2012. From 2012-2017 she was Secretary-General of the intergovernmental organization Community of Democracies.

Leissner headed an international governance program in Baghdad in Iraq 2004-2005 and 2005-2006 she worked in Indonesia as Senior Adviser for human rights with AMM, the AcehMonitoring Mission.

Leissner was a member of the Swedish parliament in 1985-1991, serving on its Committee on Foreign Affairs and the governmental Delegation on Disarmament. She led the Swedish Liberal party between 1995 and 1997, the first woman to hold the office. Between 1991 and 1994 she presided the Swedish Committee for Afghanistan and the foundation Women Can. She has also served as Chair of the Swedish Delegation for Roma Issues 2006-2010, engaging in dialogue with the community on the struggles faced and preservation of its cultural heritage and language.

Geographic expertise

Central America
West Africa and Sahel
Afghanistan
Indonesia
Iraq

Topical expertise

Democracy
Human rights
Minority policy
Leadership and management
Security policy
Disarmament

Languages

Swedish
English
French
Spanish

How can we prevent genocide? FBA and ISCI gather researchers and experts for this Autumn’s most important conversation

Why does the international community so often hesitate to act, despite both moral and legal obligations? The Folke Bernadotte Academy (FBA) and the International State Crime Initiative (ISCI) brought together researchers and experts for a dialogue on genocide, drawing on historical and contemporary lessons, in light of the humanitarian catastrophe in Gaza over the past two years.

2025-10-16 10:33

Read our publications

The Gender-Responsive Leader's Handbook

Gender equality is both a goal and a prerequisite for sustainable peace and development. FBA’s Gender-Responsive Leadership (GRL) Initiative is designed to support leaders and managers within organizations such as the EU, UN, ECOWAS, OSCE and the African Union to fulfill their central role in enabling gender equal peace, security and development work.

Documents

More Publications

On international deployment

Teresa Wiklund

Monitor at EUMM in Georgia

Kajsa Norman

Election observer

Catalina Perdomo Rodriguez

Adviser to the UN in Colombia

Karolina Riedel

Statistician in election observation missions

Björn Tedeman

Election observer

THE FBA BLOG

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Posted by Marie Blomdahl
A safe online space to share experiences to support leadership in the UN

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When I joined the Leadership and Cooperation Unit at the Folke Bernadotte Academy in August 2018, after working many years mainly in the private sector, I had a feeling that this job really would offer me an opportunity to use my skills and experiences to make a difference, and at the same time grow as a professional. FBA was at the time already working actively with leadership development support for leaders in key functions within the ... Read entire post »
2021-06-03 10:54
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Posted by Rhodri Williams
Civil Society as a Critical Partner: Rule of Law and Accountability in the Liberian COVID-19 Response, Part II

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Part One of this post highlighted the importance of the rule of law in supporting crisis response in countries struggling with the effects of conflict. One of the most important rule of law principles in such settings is accountability, particularly “downward accountability”, in which state authorities focus on serving citizens dependent on them.

Corruption and poor governance can lead to excessive upward accountability directed toward political superiors, leaving a gap between the state and ordinary citizens. Civil ... Read entire post »

The post Civil Society as a Critical Partner: Rule of Law and Accountability in the Liberian COVID-19 Response, Part II first appeared on FBA-bloggen.
2021-02-15 13:43
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Posted by Kristin Valasek
Time for a joint vision on gender-responsive leadership

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Right before the winter break, 236 women and men from 105 different organizations and 46 countries around the world joined our International Dialogue on Gender-Responsive Leadership, to discuss an absolutely critical and often missing part of the gender equality puzzle: gender-responsive leadership.

After twenty years of struggling to achieve the commitments of the global women, peace and security agenda, we at the FBA have learned that executives and managers are essential to success. Not just as supporters, ... Read entire post »

The post Time for a joint vision on gender-responsive leadership first appeared on FBA-bloggen.
2021-02-10 16:09

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Maria Leissner

Geographic expertise

Topical expertise

Languages

How can we prevent genocide? FBA and ISCI gather researchers and experts for this Autumn’s most important conversation

Latest news

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Read our publications

The Gender-Responsive Leader's Handbook