Arlette Zakarian

Zakarian was born into the Armenian-Christian minority in Iran. She and her family fled to Austria in the late 1970s, when she was five years old.^[2] She attended the Lycée Français de Vienne in Vienna, then studied law at the University of Vienna. She holds a doctorate in international law and pursued postgraduate studies in several countries, including a DEA from Université Panthéon-Assas, an LL.M. from Boston University, and an Executive Master's degree from the Geneva Graduate Institute, where she graduated as valedictorian.

Zakarian worked as a research assistant at Boston University School of Law and Harvard Law School, with a focus on human rights. She later worked for Renault-Nissan in Paris (now Renault–Nissan–Mitsubishi Alliance) and the OECD’s Middle East and North Africa (MENA) program. She also collaborated with the Arab Center for the Rule of Law and Integrity in Beirut.^[3] From 2013 to 2015, she served as a litigation lawyer in the international insurance law department of the Bank of Scotland in Germany. She also held academic positions, including teaching at Sciences Po Paris, ESSEC Business School (where she directed a Master’s program), and the Graduate Institute in Geneva. Today, she manages law firms in Vienna and Strasbourg, focusing on public international law as well as the protection of human rights.^[4][5][6]

Zakarian joined the NEOS party in 2017 and served as the party's ombudsperson from 2019 to 2023. She played a significant role in developing NEOS X, the party's international branch, and was elected its spokesperson in January 2024.^[7] During the 2024 Austrian parliamentary election, she ran on position 19 of the NEOS federal list.^[8] Her political agenda includes reforming citizenship laws, particularly advocating for dual citizenship for Austrians living abroad, and strengthening international legal standards.^[9] Since January 2024^[10] she has been elected state spokeswoman (Landessprecherin) for NEOS X – International,^{[11][12][13][14]} Since March 20, 2024, following the decisions of the Council of Ministers, she is also a member of the Board of Trustees of the Austrian Expatriate Fund.

Zakarian co-edited the 2022 book "Berg-Karabakh: A Legal Analysis of the Conflict over Artsakh" (Nomos Verlag), alongside Gurgen Petrossian and Sarah Babaian.^[15] She frequently contributes guest commentaries on foreign policy and international law to Austrian media outlets such as Der Standard and Die Presse.^[16][17][18]