Palan Mulonda became ambassador of the Republic of Zambia to the United States in January 2013, with concurrent accreditation to other Central American states.

Ambassador Mulonda previously served as director and chief executive officer (2009-12) of the Zambia Institute of Advanced Legal Education (ZIALE), which provides training for law graduates wishing to be admitted to the Zambian bar, prosecutors, legislature drafters and judicial officers. He was also vice chairperson (2007-12) of the Zambia Human Rights Commission, a constitutional independent body established to promote and protect human rights and freedom in Zambia; he served as a non-executive commissioner. In addition, Ambassador Mulonda taught law at the University of Zambia School of Law from 2006 to 2009, was a partner in the law firm of Palan and George Advocates, and director of a nonprofit organization, the Institute of Human Rights, Intellectual Property and Development (HURID), from 2003 to 2006.

Ambassador Mulonda began his legal career in the Attorney-General’s Chambers as a state advocate and international law adviser to the attorney-general of Zambia. He also acted as legal adviser to various government international negotiations in more than 30 jurisdictions in transactions concerning the energy, defense, telecommunications, commerce and trade, agriculture and mining sectors.

As an international law adviser, Ambassador Mulonda was also in charge of the Human Rights State reporting work and was the coordinator of the Inter-Ministerial Committee on State Reporting. He served as a delegate to human rights commissions and conferences, where he was the chief adviser to the Zambian delegations to the First OAU Human Rights Ministerial Conference in Africa held in Mauritius in 1999 and the World Conference on Racism, Racial Discrimination and Xenophobia held in South Africa in 2000. In addition, he was an active delegate in the work of the Human Rights Commission in Geneva between 1998 and 2003 and was part of the team that presented Zambia’s initial State Party Report to the Committee Against Torture (CAT). He also worked with the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights in the Gambia.

Ambassador Mulonda has spoken at various international forums as an expert on human rights issues, such as the Beijing Human Rights Forum in China in 2009, and he was among the three constitutional law experts invited to address Zambia’s National Constitutional Conference entrusted with drafting the country’s new Constitution.

He holds a bachelor’s of law degree (LLB) from the University of Zambia and a master’s of international law degree (MIL) from the University of Lund in Sweden. He is married to Mutinta Valerie and they have three daughters.

Contact Information

Embassy of Zambia
2419 Massachusetts Ave., NW
Washington, DC 20008

Phone: 202-265-9717
Fax: 202-332-0826

Email: embzambia@aol.com
Website: http://www.zambiaembassy.org/