NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF GUATEMALA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

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

Jorge Skinner-Klée Arenales, the new Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations, presented his credentials today to Secretary-General Kofi Annan.

Prior to his appointment, Mr. Skinner-Klée was the Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs for Guatemala.  He also served as Ambassador to several countries, including Honduras in 2003, Belize in 2000, Canada in 1998 and the Federal Republic of Germany in 1993.  In 1989, he was Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, as well as adviser to the Minister for Foreign Affairs and consulting advocate to the Department of Legal Affairs and Treaties.  Previously, he served as legal adviser to the Embassy of Guatemala to the United States in 1987, while serving concurrently as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations.  In 1985, he was deputy representative to the permanent mission of Guatemala to the Organization of American States.

From 1988 to 1992, Mr. Skinner-Klée was also a partner in the law firm of Skinner-Klée & Ruiz in his country, as well as a professor of private international law and assistant professor of public international law at Universidad Rafael Landívar.  From 1990 to 1993, he served as Adviser for International Affairs to the National Coffee Association of Guatemala.

Among Mr. Skinner-Klée’s publications are Habeas Corpus as a Guarantee of Effectiveness in 1984 and The Dichotomy between Human Rights and Economic Development:  A Case Study in Guatemala in 1985.  He also served as editor of Regulations for the Consular Service of the Republic of Guatemala in 1990.

Mr. Skinner-Klée studied at ColumbiaCollege in New York, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1976.  In 1984, he received a Licentiate in Legal and Social Sciences from RafaelLandívarUniversity in Guatemala.  He also received a Master’s degree in International Law from Columbia University School of Law in New York in 1985, and a Diploma in International Relations from Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies in Washington, D.C., in 1988.

Born in 1957 in Guatemala City, Mr. Skinner-Klée is married with five children.

* *** *