Antigua and Barbuda is a sovereign island country in the Caribbean. It lies at the conjuncture of the Caribbean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean in the Leeward Islands part of the Lesser Antilles.
The politics of Antigua and Barbuda takes place in a framework of a unitary parliamentary representative democratic monarchy, wherein the sovereign of Antigua and Barbuda is the head of state, appointing a governor-general to act as vice-regal representative in the nation. A prime minister is appointed by the governor-general as the head of government, and of a multi-party system; the prime minister advises the governor-general on the appointment of a Council of Ministers. Executive power is exercised by the government. Legislative power is vested in both the government and the two chambers of the Parliament. The bicameral Parliament consists of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
Dr. Paulette A. Bethel is a Bahamian diplomat from the Commonwealth of The Bahamas. She started her professional career in 1980 in the international field as Assistant Social Affairs Officer in the Centre for Social Development and Humanitarian Affairs (CSDHA) in Vienna, Austria. She then joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Bahamas) and served in diplomatic posts for long years for her country. She was a Special Adviser to the Office of the President of the Seventieth session of the United Nations General Assembly. She was previously the Permanent Representative of the Bahamas to the United Nations from 4 March 2003 to 31 March 2013. She was the first female Ambassador of The Bahamas to the United Nations. She had also worked as Director of the Department of Fellowships at the Organization of American States (OAS); the first such position for a national of Bahamas.
John William Ashe was a Antiguan diplomat and politician. He was the President of the United Nations General Assembly at its 68th session, which ran September 2013 to September 2014. He was also President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2012. He served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York of Antigua and Barbuda between 1995 and 2004.
Andrei Dapkiunas is a Belarusian diplomat who is currently Ambassador-designate of Belarus to Austria and Slovenia, Permanent Representative of Belarus to the international organisations in Vienna and to the Organisation for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He holds the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary since 2011.
The monarchy of Antigua and Barbuda is a system of government in which a hereditary monarch is the sovereign and head of state of Antigua and Barbuda. The current Antiguan and Barbudan monarch and head of state, since 8 September 2022, is King Charles III. As sovereign, he is the personal embodiment of the Crown of Antigua and Barbuda. Although the person of the sovereign is equally shared with 14 other independent countries within the Commonwealth of Nations, each country's monarchy is separate and legally distinct. As a result, the current monarch is officially titled King of Antigua and Barbuda and, in this capacity, he and other members of the Royal Family undertake public and private functions domestically and abroad as representatives of Antigua and Barbuda. However, the King is the only member of the Royal Family with any constitutional role.
Henrietta Holsman Fore is an American public health and international development executive who served as the 7th Executive Director of UNICEF till January 2022. Fore currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Holsman International, a management, investment, and advisory services company. She served in three presidential appointments under President George W. Bush: Fore was the first woman Administrator of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and Director of U.S. Foreign Assistance, the 11th Under Secretary of Management in the Department of State, and the 37th Director of the United States Mint in the U.S. Department of Treasury. She was the presidential appointee for President George H. W. Bush at the United States Agency for International Development.
Omar Abdi is a Somali-Canadian diplomat. He serves as the Deputy Executive Director of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF).
Thomas Stelzer is an Austrian diplomat, who served as the Dean and Executive Secretary of the International Anti-Corruption Academy (IACA) until July 2023, when he was suspended by the IACA board on suspicion of corruption.
UNICEF, originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing humanitarian and developmental aid to children worldwide. The organization is one of the most widely known and visible social welfare entities globally, operating in 192 countries and territories.. UNICEF's activities include providing immunizations and disease prevention, administering treatment for children and mothers with HIV, enhancing childhood and maternal nutrition, improving sanitation, promoting education, and providing emergency relief in response to disasters.
Carl Bertrand Westerby Roberts CMG was an Antiguan and Barbudan diplomat and was the former High Commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Kingdom, with concurrent accreditations as Ambassador of Antigua and Barbuda to France, Germany, Italy and Spain.
Gaston Alfonso Browne is an Antiguan politician serving as the prime minister of Antigua and Barbuda and leader of the Labour Party since 2014. Before entering politics, he was a banker and businessman.
Jagdish Dharamchand Koonjul, GCSK, GOSK, is the Permanent Representative of Mauritius to the United Nations, and was President of the United Nations Security Council in January 2002.
Sir Ronald Michael Sanders is an Antiguan Barbudan diplomat, academic, former broadcast-journalist, and the current Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States and to the Organization of American States (OAS) since 2015. He holds the unique distinction of being the first person, since the OAS enlarged its membership in 1962, to serve as Chairman of the Permanent Council of the OAS for an unprecedented three terms. He completed his highly successful third term on December 31, 2023, having played a widely recognized role in guiding the work of the Permanent Council in the peaceful transition of government in Guatemala on 14 January 2024.
Macharia Kamau is Kenya's Principal Secretary to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He previously served as Kenya's representative to the United Nations and as the former President of the UNICEF Executives Board.
Sven Jürgenson is an Estonian diplomat. He served as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York of Estonia from 1998 to 2000 and once again from 2015 to 2022. In 2016, he was also the President of the UNICEF Executive Board at the international level. He served as Ambassador to the United States from 2000 to 2003 and as Ambassador to France from 2010 to 2015.
Oumar Daou is a Malian diplomat and political expert.
Mehdi Danesh-Yazdi is currently an Iranian attorney-at-law and a member of the Iranian Central Bar Association. He previously served as the Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Administrative and Financial Affairs of Iran until his retirement in January 2018. He served as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 1995 to 1999 and also 2003 to 2008 and Ambassador to Sweden from 1987 to 1992. At the international level, he served as President of the UNICEF Executive Board in 2005 and as Chairman of the United Nations Commission for Social Development in 2006. He was the President of the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization from 2014 to 2015.He joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Director for the Department of Treaties in 1982.
Movses Abelian is an Armenian-Georgian diplomat and United Nations official. In June 2019, the United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed him as Under-Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management. He additionally appointed him, on 3 September 2019, as UN Coordinator for Multilingualism.
Rabab Fatima is a Bangladeshi diplomat. She is currently the high representative of the United Nations for the least developed countries, landlocked developing countries and small island developing states (UNOHRLLS). Between 2019 and July 2022, she served as the Permanent Representative of Bangladesh to the United Nations. Prior to this, she was Bangladesh Ambassador to Japan. On 1 February 2022, she was elected the Chair of the United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC).
