President:
Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa (Bahrain)
Sheikha Haya Rashed Al Khalifa was elected President of the Sixty-First session of the United Nations General Assembly on 8 June. At the time, she was serving as Legal Adviser to the Royal Court in the Kingdom of Bahrain. She is only the third woman to serve as President of the General Assembly, and the first since the Twenty-Fourth session in 1969.
As one of the first two women to practice law in Bahrain, Sheikha Haya brings to her United Nations post three decades of distinguished legal experience at both the national and international levels. She has held many senior positions at some of the world's top legal organizations, including the International Bar Association, where, from 1997 to 1999, she was vice-chairwoman of the arbitration and dispute resolution committee -- the first woman from the Middle East to serve in this capacity.
More recently, she has carried out a number of prestigious diplomatic assignments, including serving as her country's Ambassador to France, from 2000 to 2004, and as non-resident Ambassador to Belgium, Switzerland and Spain. During the same period, she was Bahrain's Permanent Representative to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). She also was a member of the World Intellectual Property Organization's (WIPO) Arbitration Centre Consultative Committee and she represented Bahrain on the International Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce, in appointment she still holds today.
A champion of women's rights, particularly in the legal sphere, Sheikha Haya has been an active participant in the movement to elevate the position of women in Bahrain before the Islamic sharia courts and is an advocate of a progressive interpretation of Islamic texts as they apply to women. She was a vice-president of the Bahrain Bar Society, as well as a member of the Supreme Council of Culture, Art and Literature. She is currently a member of her country's Child Development Society and the Arab Women's Legal Network.
Sheikha Haya, who is trilingual in Arabic, English and French, holds an LLB degree (Bachelor of Laws) from the University of Kuwait and has studied international public law at the University of Paris I: Panthéon-Sorbonne. She also holds postgraduate degrees in civil private law from Alexandria University and in comparative law from Ain Shams University in Egypt.
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Chairperson of First Committee:
Mona Juul (Norway)
Mona Juul, Deputy Permanent Representative of Norway to the United Nations, was elected Chairperson of the First Committee (Disarmament and International Security) on 18 July.
Ms. Juul served as Ambassador to Cyprus from 2001 to 2004. She was also Ambassador to Israel from 2001 to 2004.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Juul served as State Secretary from March 2000 to December 2000. Prior to that, Ms. Juul was Special Adviser/Ambassador/Middle East Coordinator at the Ministry (1997-2000). From 1993 to 1994, she was Head of Division for the Secretariat. She was also Executive Officer for the Secretariat (1992-1993) and Executive Officer for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1990-1992).
Ms. Juul was Minister Counsellor, Norwegian Embassy, Tel Aviv, Israel (1994-1997). At the Norwegian Embassy in Cairo, Egypt, she served as Second Secretary from 1989 to 1990. She had served as Attaché prior to that (1988-1989).
She was enrolled in the Norwegian Foreign Service Training Programme from 1986 to 1988, and she earned her graduate degree in Political Science from the University of Oslo in 1988.
Born on 10 April 1959 in Steinkjer, Norway, Ms. Juul is married with two children.
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Chairperson of Second Committee:
Tiina Intelmann (Estonia)
Tiina Intelmann, the Permanent Representative of Estonia to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Second Committee (Economic and Financial) for the sixty-first session of the General Assembly on 8 June.
Prior to her appointment as Permanent Representative, Ms. Intelmann served at her country's Foreign Ministry as Under-secretary for Political Affairs and Relations with the Press (2002-2005). From 1999 to 2002, she was Permanent Representative at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Vienna, Austria. From 1998 to 1999, she worked in Estonia's Foreign Ministry as Director of the Division of North and Central Europe and the countries of Western Balkans at the Political Department.
Ms. Intelmann began her diplomatic career in 1991 as a Desk Officer responsible for relations with countries of Southern Europe and the European Union at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. She served as a political officer in Estonian embassies in Paris and Brussels until 1995, and was Counsellor at Estonia's Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York from 1995 to 1998.
Before joining the foreign service, Ms. Intelmann worked as Assistant to the Deputy Chairman of Estonia's Supreme Council (1990-1992). She was a teacher and translator upon her graduation from the Department of Roman philology of Leningrad State University (Russian Federation) in 1987, where she received bachelor's and master's degrees in Italian language and literature. She also completed linguistic, diplomatic, economic, management and administrative post-graduate courses in academic institutions in several countries.
Born in 1963 in Estonia, Ms. Intelmann has one son.
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Chairman of Third Committee:
Hamid Al Bayati (Iraq)
Hamid al Bayati, the Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, has been elected chairman of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) of the sixty-first General Assembly on 8 June.
Mr. Al Bayati has been his country's Permanent Representative since 27 April, when he presented his credentials to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. Previously, he served for two years, from 2004 to 2006, as Iraq's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs and Bilateral Relations.
In a related appointment that began in November 2004, he remains the head of the Iraqi Centre for Strategic Studies. From August 2003 to April 2004, he was an adviser to a member of the Iraqi Governing Council, Sayed Abdul Aziz al Hakim. From May to August 2003, he was an adviser to the late Ayatollah Mohamad Baqir al Hakim.
From 1995 to 2002, Mr. Al Bayati was a board member of INDICT, a British organization that collected evidence about the alleged crimes of Saddam Hussein and his aides. From 1992 to 2002, he served as Director of the World Charity Foundation in London. In those same years, he was the editor of the Iraq Update, a weekly English newsletter. He was an elected member of the Leadership Committee of the Iraqi National Congress in London, from 1992 to 1998.
Among the recent conferences in which Mr. Al Bayati participated as a member of the Iraqi delegation was the Islamic Conference Organization Summit in Saudi Arabia (December 2005), the International Conference for Economic Cooperation in Iran (August 2004) and the Iraqi Opposition Conference in Salah al Deen (2003).
Mr. Al Bayati has published several books in English and Arabic, as well as many articles about politics. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 from Baghdad University and his master's degree in language and philosophy in 1980 from Cairo University, Egypt. He received his doctorate degree in politics in 1990 from Manchester University, United Kingdom.
He holds dual citizenship in Iraq and the United Kingdom, and speaks English and Arabic, as well as some French, German and Farsi.
Born in Baghdad in 1952, Mr. Al Bayati is married.
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Chairman of Fourth Committee:
Madhu Raman Acharya (Nepal)
The Permanent Representative of Nepal to the United Nations, Madhu Raman Acharya, was elected Chairman of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) for the sixty-first session of the General Assembly on 8 June.
Prior to his current appointment, Mr. Acharya was his country's Foreign Secretary from 2001 to 2005 and, before that, he served as Ambassador to Bangladesh (1998-2001). In 1997-1998, he was Deputy Chief of Mission in New Delhi, India, and, in 1996-1997, served as Joint Secretary in Nepal's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. During the 1990s, he participated in United Nations missions in Cambodia, South Africa and Liberia.
Mr. Acharya began his distinguished career in 1982 as Assistant Lecturer at his alma mater -- Tribhuvan University in Kathmandu. In 1983, he was appointed a Section Officer in the Ministry of Home Affairs, where he remained until 1990. He joined the Ministry of Finance in 1990 as Assistant Secretary, and from 1993 to 1996 he was Under-Secretary of Finance.
He holds several degrees from Tribhuvan University and is the author of several books and publications.
Born on 24 February 1957 in Udayapur, Nepal, he is married with two children.
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Chairman of Fifth Committee:
Youcef Yousfi (Algeria)
The Permanent Representative of Algeria to the United Nations, Youcef Yousfi, was elected Chairman of the Fifth Committee (Administrative and Budgetary) for the sixty-first session of the General Assembly on 7 July this year.
Prior to his New York appointment, Mr. Yousfi served as his country's Ambassador in Canada, a post he took up in 2001. He has also held a number of positions with in the Algerian Government, including Minister-Delegate to the Chief of Government (2000-2001) and a Minister of Foreign Affairs (1999-2001).
In 1996, Mr. Yousfi was appointed Chief of Staff to then President Liamine Zeroual. One year later, he became Minister of Energy and Mines and, in 1997, he was elected to the National People's Assembly. In 1998 and 1999, he served as Chairman of the Organization of the Petroleum Exporting Countries (OPEC).
At the beginning of his career, Mr. Yousfi was a senior lecturer and then Professor of chemical engineering at the Ecole Nationale Polytechnique d'Algiers, where he was also Director of the Chemistry Institute. He was also in charge of petroleum affairs at the Ministry of Industry and Energy, while carrying out his teaching activities.
In 1985, Mr. Yousfi became Chief Executive Officer of Sonatrach, the national petroleum company, where he had previously served as Vice-President in charge of marketing. He became Chairman of the Board of the Mines, Petroleum and Hydraulics Participation Fund in 1988.
Having graduated from Ecole Nationale Supérieure des Industries Chimique in France, Mr. Yousfi obtained a PhD in physics from Université de Nancy, France, in 1973. He also has a degree in economics.
Born in Batna, Algeria, on 2 October 1941, Mr. Yousfi is married with three children.
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Chairman of Sixth Committee:
Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo (Mexico)
The Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico to the United Nations, Juan Manuel Gomez-Robledo, was elected Chairman of the Sixth Committee (Legal) for the sixty-first session of the General Assembly on 8 June.
From 2000 until his appointment as Deputy Permanent Representative, he was Legal Counsel to his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. For two years before that, he was Minister and then Deputy Permanent Representative of Mexico's Permanent Mission to the Organization of American States in Washington, D.C.
Between 1995 and 1998, Mr. Gomez-Robledo served as Counsellor (Humanitarian and Disarmament Affairs) of Mexico's Permanent Mission in Geneva. From 1993 to 1994, he was Chief of Staff and later Chef de Cabinet in the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs.
After entering the foreign service in 1988, Mr. Gomez-Robledo rose to become Special Assistant to the Minister for Foreign Affairs from 1992 to 1993.
The author of several publications on international law, peace and security, he was Director of the Graduate Seminar on International Humanitarian Law, Universidad Iberoamericana, Mexico City (2001); Professor of Public International Law at El Colegio de Mexico, Mexico City (1992-1993); and Professor of Public International Law at Universidad Panamericana in Mexico City (1984-1986).
Born in Mexico City on 5 March 1959, he was educated at the Université de Paris, where he graduated in 1980 and earned a master's degree in public law in 1982. Also in 1982, he gained a diploma in international relations from the Institut d'Etudes Politiques de Paris.
He is married and has four children.
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Spokesperson of the President of the 61st General Assembly: Gail Bindley-Taylor Sainte (Trinidad)
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