Biographical Note

NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF Spain PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

(Based on information received from the Protocol and Liaison Service.)

Juan Antonio Yáñez-Barnuevo, the new Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

From 2002 until his current appointment, Mr. Yáñez-Barnuevo was head of the International Legal Department of the Foreign Ministry of Spain.  Since 1997, he has also been Spain’s Ambassador at large, representing his country in the negotiations leading to the establishment and effective functioning of the International Criminal Court (ICC).  He headed the Spanish delegation to the Rome Conference the following year and signed the ICC Statute on behalf of the country at the end of that Conference.  He then led delegations to the Preparatory Commission and the Assembly of States Parties of the ICC.

From 1991 to 1996, the new envoy served as Permanent Representative of Spain to the United Nations, representing the country in the Security Council in 1993 and 1994 and twice serving as Council President.  Between 1982 and 1991, he headed the International Department in the Prime Minister’s Office, also serving as diplomatic counsellor to the President of Government.

After joining the Spanish Diplomatic Service, between 1968 and 1982, Mr. Yáñez-Barnuevo served successively as a member of the International Legal Department in the Foreign Ministry and as First Secretary at the Permanent Mission of Spain to the United Nations and Deputy Permanent Representative to the Council of Europe.

An author of many works on international issues, he has taught international law and relations, mainly at the Universities of Madrid and Seville and at the SpanishDiplomaticSchool.

Born in 1942 at Coria del Rio (Seville), Mr. Yáñez-Barnuevo graduated in 1963 with a Master’s Degree in Law from MadridUniversity.  He also did post-graduate studies at the MadridSchool for the International Civil Service, the HagueAcademy of International Law, the SpanishDiplomaticSchool and the University of Cambridge, where he obtained a Diploma of International Law in 1976.

He is married and has one son.

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