About

I am a lawyer, a refugee advocate, and a humanitarian worker with an eye for beauty. I love the arts, nature, animals, sports, and adventures in the great outdoors.

For the past five years, I served as Representative of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to Nepal in Kathmandu, working in a place and with people whose resilience, tolerance, and extraordinary kindness have inspired me.

My journey of protecting refugees through the UNHCR has taken me to Nepal, Morocco, Malaysia, Indonesia, Republic of Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria, Romania and UNHCR Headquarters in Geneva in the Bureau for Asia and the Bureau for Africa.

I entered the world of refugee rights and protection from my legal studies and practice having completed my law degrees from the Universities of Freiburg and Hamburg in Germany.

I practiced law in Hamburg, Lübeck and Schwerin in Germany before taking my expertise to the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights in New York (UNOHCHR) and then to the UNHCR.

Since then, I have been a relentless advocate for refugees. I am so lucky that my work has always been driven by my passion for social justice.

Having been a globetrotter most of my life, I still carry my birthplace, the city of Hamburg, in my heart. I also call Hastings in Michigan, USA my home, where I was an exchange student at the local high school and formed lasting personal ties.

I dedicated three decades to human rights and refugee protection as a UNHCR civil servant, diplomat, lawyer, and humanitarian. Alongside my professional life, my partner and I raised two daughters, who are my heart’s delight.

During our family’s frequent moves for UN assignments, I largely put on hold my passions as an artist, sportswoman, and nature lover. Many of my personal mementos like letters, paintings, and photographs were lost over the years of moving. Much of my life outside of the humanitarian and legal world, my other interests, and personal history from childhood through to today remains untold even to family and friends.

So, in these pages I am curating for those who are dear to me, and in particular for my two much loved daughters Dinah Ruth and Sarla Wanda, what I have unearthed in basements and attics in Hamburg. Special thanks go to my mother Eva Spannuth and to my friend Susanne Kloth, who kept these works safe at their homes.

I dedicate this website to my parents and grandparents, teachers, and friends, who instilled in me values of humanity, and equality, and a love of art. These people nurtured a sense of beauty and creativity in me which has fueled me with positive energy throughout my professional career and until today.