SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS JOHN REGINALD DUMAS OF TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SPECIAL ADVISER ON HAITI

Biographical Note                                         

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS JOHN REGINALD DUMAS OF TRINIDAD

AND TOBAGO SPECIAL ADVISER ON HAITI

In view of the escalating crisis in Haiti, the Secretary-General has appointed John Reginald Dumas of Trinidad and Tobago as his Special Adviser on Haiti.

Mr. Dumas will closely follow developments in Haiti and liaise with all relevant actors, in particular the regional organizations that have been undertaking vital efforts to find a solution to the country’s persistent political impasse.

The Secretary-General hopes that with his appointment as Special Advisor the United Nations can make a significant contribution to the alleviation of the political, economic and social crises that afflict Haiti.

Mr. Dumas has, for many years, actively participated in multilateral negotiations dealing with specific concerns of his home country and the Caribbean Community.  Mr. Dumas has been called to serve on a variety of task forces, commissions of inquiry and other bodies in the public service, and in the business and judicial fields in and outside Trinidad and Tobago.

Mr. Dumas has an extensive diplomatic background.  From 1987 to 1988, he was Ambassador to the United States of America and Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the Organization of American States.  From 1985 to 1987, he served as High Commissioner to Barbados and the Eastern Caribbean.  Prior to his appointment as High Commissioner to Canada, from 1980 to1984, he served as his country’s High Commissioner to India, with concurrent accreditation to Sri Lanka, Singapore, Indonesia and Japan.  Between 1973 and 1976, he was Trinidad and Tobago’s High Commissioner to Ethiopia, with concurrent accreditation to Kenya, the United Republic of Tanzania, Uganda, and Zambia.

He was Permanent Secretary to the Prime Minister of Trinidad and Tobago and Head of the Public Service from 1988 to 1990, and chaired the Public Service Reform Task Force.  Aside from his impressive public service record, Mr. Dumas has participated in a variety of business, communication, and cultural ventures.  In 1998, he became co-founder of Trinidad and Tobago’s Transparency Institute, the National Chapter of Transparency International.

Mr. Dumas was educated at the ChaguanasGovernmentSchool and the Queen’s Royal College of Port-of-Spain.  He is a graduate of CambridgeUniversity and was a Carnegie Endowment Fellow at the Institute Universitaire de Hautes Etudes Internationales in Geneva.  He is fluent in English and French.  His main publication is “In the Service of the Public:  Articles and Speeches 1963–1993, with Commentaries”.

Mr. Dumas was born in Trinidad and Tobago on 4 April 1935.

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