Uzra Zeya became Acting Assistant Secretary for Democracy, Human Rights and Labor on March 8, 2013.
Ms. Zeya joined the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights and Labor (DRL) as the Principal Deputy Assistant Secretary on September 24, 2012. Ms. Zeya’s responsibilities for DRL Bureau include oversight of operations and programs, and ensuring that the bureau’s diplomacy, public outreach, and foreign assistance efforts support the President’s and Secretary’s foreign policy goals.
Ms. Zeya has over two decades of policy experience in the Department, where she has focused on the Near East and South Asia regions and multilateral affairs. Since joining the Foreign Service in 1990, Ms. Zeya’s overseas assignments have included Paris, Muscat, Damascus, Cairo, and Kingston. Ms. Zeya served most recently as Chief of Staff to Deputy Secretary of State Bill Burns, where she supported a range of policy initiatives, ranging from the U.S. response to transitions in the Middle East to deepening engagement with emerging global powers. Prior to that, Ms. Zeya served as Minister Counselor for Political Affairs at the U.S. Embassy in New Delhi. In Washington, she served as a Deputy Executive Secretary to Secretaries Rice and Clinton, as Director of the Executive Secretariat Staff, and as UNGA coordinator for the International Organizations bureau.
For more information, visit the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor.
