Carlien van Empel is the Director of the International Labour Organization’s Office for the European Union and the Benelux countries.
Ms van Empel has over 28 years of experience in the field of development cooperation and the promotion of decent work. Before joining the ILO Office in Brussels, she acted as Head of the Development cooperation support unit in the Department for Multilateral partnerships and development cooperation at the ILO Headquarters in Geneva. In this role, she advised on various issues including the integration of environmental and social safeguards into projects.
She previously held expert roles at the ILO Enterprises Department and at the Cooperative Branch, where she focussed on green jobs, local economic development, and partnerships and tools development for cooperative and rural enterprise promotion. Ms van Empel has also worked as an International development Consultant, and for the ILO in Abidjan, Côte d’Ivoire, where she gained experience in the socio-economic reintegration of conflict-affected groups.
Carlien holds a Master in Political Science and International Relations from the University of Amsterdam (The Netherlands), and an Executive certificate in Advocacy in International Affairs from the Geneva Graduate Institute (Switzerland).