and beaten to death while hitch-hiking, and police decided it was a "road accident". Her practical training included work with Lord Tony Gifford on human rights cases such as the "Birmingham Six" appeal of alleged bombers who were later exonerated. Throughout her exile, Gawanas continued to campaign for Namibia's freedom from South African rule. In 1988 she travelled to Zambia to visit her daughter and was detained by SWAPO. Over an extended period the movement detained many thousands of Namibians as part of a "spy scare". These allegations were never proved despite months of solitary confinement and torture. Gawanas later became one of the first Namibians to return alive from the "dungeons" in Lubango, Southern Angola, in 1989, some months before many other surviving detainees were released. By July 1989, she and her daughter were repatriated by the United Nations and were back on Namibian soil. Career Her first job back in Namibia from exile was with advocate Anton Lubowski, which ended when apartheid agents murdered Lubowski on his front doorstep in an unsuccessful attempt to destabilize the 1989 UN-supervised elections. She then worked as with the public-interest Legal Assistance Centre until 1991 when she was appointed by Parliament to the Public Service Commission of Namibia. Her work there included extensive rebalancing of the Namibian civil service. President Sam Nujoma appointed her Ombudsman, on recommendation of the Judicial Services Commission, in 1996 and she served there, investigating and resolving complaints of maladministration at all levels, until 2003. She also served as Executive Secretary of the African Ombudsman Association. In July 2003 Gawanas was elected by the African Heads of State as Commissioner of Social Affairs for the African Union Commission, based in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. She has been seeking to increase the profile of social development issues on the continental agenda. She was elected for two terms, in 2003 and 2008, and after completing her second term in October 2012, she returned to Namibia where she became Special Advisor to the Minister of Health and Social Services. In January 2018 Gawanas was appointed Special Adviser on Africa for the United Nations by UN Secretary‑General António Guterres. She serves at the level of Under-Secretary-General. In May 2020, Gawanas was selected to serve on the first Board of Trustees of the International Planned Parenthood Federation (IPPF) following their governance reform. Private life Bience Gawanas is the aunt of politician Sade Gawanas. Awards