Hubert J. Charles (born 23 October 1948) is a Dominican diplomat and educator. He is the current ambassador of Dominica to the Organization of American States and to the United States.
Dominica, officially the Commonwealth of Dominica, is an island country in the West Indies. The capital, Roseau, is located on the western side of the island. It is part of the Windward Islands in the Lesser Antilles archipelago in the Caribbean Sea. The island is located near Guadeloupe to the northwest and Martinique to the south-southeast. Its area is 750 km2 (290 sq mi), and the highest point is Morne Diablotins, at 1,447 m (4,747 ft) in elevation. The population was 71,293 at the 2011 census. The Commonwealth of Dominica is one of the Caribbean's few republics.
The Organization of American States, or the OAS or OEA, is a continental organization that was founded on 30 April 1948, for the purposes of regional solidarity and cooperation among its member states. Headquartered in the United States capital Washington, D.C., the OAS's members are the 35 independent states of the Americas.
The United States of America (USA), commonly known as the United States or America, is a country composed of 50 states, a federal district, five major self-governing territories, and various possessions. At 3.8 million square miles, the United States is the world's third or fourth largest country by total area and is slightly smaller than the entire continent of Europe's 3.9 million square miles. With a population of over 327 million people, the U.S. is the third most populous country. The capital is Washington, D.C., and the largest city by population is New York City. Forty-eight states and the capital's federal district are contiguous in North America between Canada and Mexico. The State of Alaska is in the northwest corner of North America, bordered by Canada to the east and across the Bering Strait from Russia to the west. The State of Hawaii is an archipelago in the mid-Pacific Ocean. The U.S. territories are scattered about the Pacific Ocean and the Caribbean Sea, stretching across nine official time zones. The extremely diverse geography, climate, and wildlife of the United States make it one of the world's 17 megadiverse countries.
Charles was born in Portsmouth, Dominica and grew up on the island. He graduated from the Dominica Grammar School in 1969. He earned a B.A. in history and economics from the University of the West Indies in Barbados in 1972, and then taught history and commerce at Dominica Grammar School from September 1972 to July 1974. In 1977, he earned an M.A. in Atlantic history and culture from Johns Hopkins University in the United States.
Portsmouth is the second largest town in Dominica, with 2,977 inhabitants. It lies on the Indian River on Dominica's northwest coast, in Saint John Parish. Cabrits National Park is located on a peninsula to the north of town. Portsmouth has its own sea port in Prince Rupert Bay.
The University of the West Indies (UWI), originally University College of the West Indies, is a public university system established to serve the higher education needs of the residents of 17 English-speaking countries and territories in the Caribbean: Anguilla, Antigua and Barbuda, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Cayman Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Jamaica, Montserrat, St. Kitts and Nevis, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Trinidad and Tobago, and Turks and Caicos Islands. Each country is either a member of the Commonwealth of Nations or a British Overseas Territory. The aim of the university is to help 'unlock the potential for economic and cultural growth' in the West Indies, thus allowing improved regional autonomy. The University was originally instituted as an independent external college of the University of London.
Barbados is an island country in the Lesser Antilles of the West Indies, in the Caribbean region of North America. It is 34 kilometres in length and up to 23 km (14 mi) in width, covering an area of 432 km2 (167 sq mi). It is situated in the western area of the North Atlantic and 100 km (62 mi) east of the Windward Islands and the Caribbean Sea; therein, Barbados is east of the Windwards, part of the Lesser Antilles, roughly at 13°N of the equator. It is about 168 km (104 mi) east of both the countries of Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and 400 km (250 mi) north-east of Trinidad and Tobago. Barbados is outside the principal Atlantic hurricane belt. Its capital and largest city is Bridgetown.
After completing his education, Charles served from July to October 1977 as Assistant Secretary in the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture in the Dominican government. He next served as the headmaster of the Dominica Grammar School from October 1977 to June 1981. Charles was appointed Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Education, Sports and Culture and held that position from January 1981 to December 1985.
Charles served as an Advisor on Special Programs to the Organization of Eastern Caribbean States from June 1986 to October 1995. Between 1991 and 2006, he also served in various posts in UNESCO in the Caribbean and Africa. In January 1991, he became the UNESCO Representative to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean, based in Bridgetown, Barbados. In November 1995, he became the UNESCO Educational Advisor in Pretoria, South Africa, serving until April 1998. In June 1998 he became the UNESCO Representative and Head of Office in Maputo, Mozambique, serving until December 2000. Finally, in January 2001, he became the UNESCO Representative and Director of the Office for the Economic Community of West African States, serving in Abuja, Nigeria until October 2006.
The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) based in Paris. Its declared purpose is to contribute to peace and security by promoting international collaboration through educational, scientific, and cultural reforms in order to increase universal respect for justice, the rule of law, and human rights along with fundamental freedom proclaimed in the United Nations Charter. It is the successor of the League of Nations' International Committee on Intellectual Cooperation.
The Economic Community of West African States, also known as ECOWAS, is a regional economic union of fifteen countries located in West Africa. Collectively, these countries comprise an area of 5,114,162 km2 (1,974,589 sq mi), and in 2015 had an estimated population of over 349 million.
Charles returned to Dominica in late 2006. He served as President of Dominica State College from May 2007 until early 2010. He was appointed Ambassador to the U.S. as Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States in June 2010.
Dominica State College, formerly Clifton Dupigny Community College, is a national college, located in the northern part of Roseau, Dominica in the Stock Farm area of the city. It is located just to the southeast of the Stock Farm Prison and northeast of Princess Margaret Hospital. It was named after the pioneer of universal education in Dominica, Clifton Dupigny, but was reestablished and renamed in September 2002.It became the product of an amalgamation of the Technical College and the Sixth Form College. This merger was the result of the Dominican government's attempt to unite all tertiary level education in one campus through the Dominica State College Act of 2002. The college as merged offers a gamut of educational programmes in the field of both traditional and vocational subjects like hospitality and tourism, nursing, agriculture and teachers training.
