Zaida Catalán

Zaida Maria Catalán (6 October 1980 – 12 March 2017) was a Swedish politician, lawyer, and human rights expert who was a member of the Green Party and leader of the Young Greens of Sweden between 2001 and 2005. She left active party politics in 2010 to pursue international work in peacebuilding and human rights, including roles with the Folke Bernadotte Academy and European Union civilian missions.

As a former politician, she advocated on issues including the environment, animal rights, and human rights (including support of Sweden's sex purchase law; see Prostitution in Sweden). During her time in Swedish politics, she co-authored early political motions advocating for consent-based sexual offence legislation. Sweden later adopted consent-based rape legislation, which entered into force on 1 June 2018. Similar consent-based legal frameworks have since been introduced in multiple European countries.

Catalán worked between 2011 and 2016 in conflict-affected and post-conflict environments through European Union civilian missions, Swedish governmental peace and security institutions, and United Nations-related assignments focused on human rights, gender equality, and the documentation of conflict-related sexual violence. She held field and advisory roles in regions including the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Afghanistan, and the Palestinian territories, where she supported security sector reform, justice sector capacity-building, and the documentation of serious human rights violations. In March 2017, Catalán and her American colleague Michael Sharp were kidnapped and murdered while serving as United Nations experts on a UN-mandated investigative mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

Subsequent United Nations monitoring and investigative reporting documented indications that the killings may not have been random and may have been preceded by surveillance and coordination involving armed actors and individuals linked to state security structures. These findings contributed to public and investigative discussion regarding whether the UN experts may have been deliberately targeted while carrying out investigative work.

On 29 January 2022, a DRC military court sentenced more than 50 individuals in connection with the murders of Catalán and Sharp. Appeals proceedings have continued, and United Nations monitoring mechanisms and international observers have raised concerns regarding delays, evidentiary handling, and procedural constraints affecting the judicial process.