Biographical Note

GRAHAM MAITLAND OF SOUTH AFRICA:  CHAIRMAN OF FOURTH COMMITTEE

      Counsellor at the Permanent Mission of South Africa to the United Nations, Graham Maitland was elected Chairman of the Fourth Committee (Special Political and Decolonization) on 17 July.

As Counsellor, he represents South Africa in debates and negotiations on matters pertaining to conflict-prevention, peace-building and peacekeeping; as well as liaising between the United Nations and the South African Ministry of Defence concerning South Africa’s participation in peacekeeping operations.  He also coordinates South Africa’s chairmanship of the Non-Aligned Movement, and represents his Government in the Special Political Committee on peacekeeping operations.

Prior to his appointment as Counsellor in August 2000, Mr. Maitland was Deputy Director, Non-Aligned Movement Desk at the South African Ministry of Foreign Affairs from February 1998 to August 2000.  He was also a member of the preparatory committee for the twelfth Summit of Heads of State of the Non-Aligned Movement held in South Africa in September 1998.  From November 1996 to February 1998, he served as Desk Officer for Global Security at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Africa coordinating and drafting policy documents on peacekeeping operations, in addition to researching and analysing various conflicts in Africa.

Mr. Maitland was Projects Officer, Centre for Human Rights, University of Pretoria in South Africa, between October 1994 and October 1996.  Also in 1996, he participated in the International Visitor Programme of the United States Information Agency, and in 1995 he served as a volunteer for the Institute of Democracy in South Africa (ADASA) to monitor the first democratic local government elections. 

Between 1994 and 1995, Mr. Maitland was secretary of the Pretoria Branch of the African National Congress (ANC), while in 1993, he founded and was elected chairperson of the Pretoria University Branch of the ANC.  Before that, he was elected chairperson of the Pretoria University Branch of the South African National Students Congress (SANSCO).

In 2001, Mr. Maitland was elected Rapporteur of the fifty-sixth session of the United Nations General Assembly’s Special Political and Decolonization (Fourth) Committee.

He holds a Bachelor of Arts in Library and Information Science from the University of Pretoria, South Africa, obtained in 1992; a Bachelor of Arts in French from the University of Pretoria, obtained in 1993; and a post-graduate certificate in political studies from the Institut d’Études Politique de Paris, France, in 1994.

In addition to his native Afrikaans mother tongue, Mr. Maitland also speaks English and French.  He was born on 26 April 1971.

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