Jeehan Mahmood is reputed for her contribution to civil society,torture prevention social work, education and human rights. In recent years she has been working as a human rights consultant nationally and internationally. Working as the national consultant she has developed and authored the National Elderly Policy and Action Plan, The Gender Equality Policy and the Gender Equality Action Plan.
Jeehan has taught Psychology, Counselling, Research Methods, Conflict Resolution, Employment Law, Educational Leadership, Human Rights and Journalism and Mental Health in several colleges and the Maldives National University.
In 2017, she was appointed as one of the members of the fact finding mission on the Situation of Rohingya Muslims where she fulfilled her duties in the Rohingya Refugee Camps on the border of Bangladesh. The report from this mission has been published and is being used for advocacy of rights of Rohingya Muslims.
She has worked with the Human Rights commission of the Maldives (HRCM), first as a member of staff in 2008 and later as a Commissioner with particular responsibilities for torture monitoring and prevention, legal matters and policy development. She is a person with outstanding human rights expertise and experience who has shown effectiveness, dedication and courage in her work.
During her years with the HRCM she has acquired comprehensive knowledge of international human rights law and practice. She has had responsibility of taking the international norms and applying them to the day to day situations of the Maldives and its people. She has had to undertake the full range of functions of a Human Rights Commissioner, from investigation of violations to human rights education and promotion, research, monitoring and proposing amendments to existing and draft laws and policies.
Initially, as a staff member of the HRCM, she headed the unit responsible for monitoring the Maldives’ performance of its obligations under the Convention Against Torture and its Optional Protocol and later she continued her intense engagement in that work as Commissioner. This required visits to prisons and other places of detention, interviewing detainees and officials, conducting inspections, providing advice and training, preparing analytical reports and advocating for improved performance. She has also played an instrumental role in drafting and ensuring the passage of the Maldives anti-torture law through the parliament and its subsequent ratification. She was also appointed as one of the Torture Prevention ambassadors by the Asia Pacific Forum for Human Rights Institutions in 2014.
Because of her international reputation in this field, Jeehan was invited to join the board of one of the foremost international human rights organisations for torture prevention, the Association for the Prevention of Torture, a non-government organisation based in Geneva, Switzerland.
She is currently the Parliament Member for Hinnavaru Constituency and also the Chair of the parliamentary standing committee on Human Rights, Child Protection and Gender.
She is also currently doing her PhD, at the Management and Science University Malaysia, where her thesis is on access to education for children with disabilities.