Candice Welsch

Candice Welsch is the Deputy Director of the Division for Operations of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). In this role, she oversees UNODC’s network of field offices around the world as well as the Criminal Justice Section and the Health Branch.

Previously, Ms. Welsch was the Chief of the Implementation Support Section of the Corruption and Economic Crime Branch where she led a team based in both Vienna and the field that provided technical assistance to countries in preventing and combating corruption. Ms. Welsch also held positions in the Justice Section and the Organized Crime and Illicit Trafficking Branch of UNODC, during which time her work focused primarily on issues relating to criminal justice, piracy off the coast of Somalia, human trafficking and international cooperation in criminal matters.

Prior to joining UNODC, Ms. Welsch worked as the senior legal officer to the judges of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, a UN-backed international war crimes tribunal, in a case that involved sexual slavery, forced marriage, child soldiers and attacks against UN peacekeepers.

At the national level, Ms. Welsch was a federal prosecutor at the Department of Justice Canada where she prosecuted cases relating to drugs and organized crime and worked in the central authority responsible for extradition and mutual legal assistance with countries around the world.

Ms. Welsch has an LL.M. in international criminal justice (University of London), a master’s degree in international law (Université de Paul Cézanne), law degrees in both common law and civil law (McGill University) and a bachelor of arts in politics (Queen’s University).