Biographical Note

HAMID AL BAYATI OF IRAQ CHAIRMAN OF SIXTH COMMITTEE

 

Hamid Al Bayati, Permanent Representative of Iraq to the United Nations, was elected Chairman of the Sixth Committee (Legal) on 4 June.  (See Press Release GA/10714.)

Mr. Al Bayati has been his country’s Permanent Representative since April 2006.  Prior to that, from 2004, he served as Iraq’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs for Political Affairs and Bilateral Relations.  In 2003 and 2004, he also served in the capacity of adviser to political leaders in his country.

From 1995 to 2002, Mr. Al Bayati was a board member of INDICT, a British organization for collecting evidence related to the alleged crimes of former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein.  From 1992 to 2002, he served as Director of the World Charity Foundation in London, also acting as editor of the weekly Iraq Update.  From 1992 to 1998, he was a member of the Leadership Committee of the Iraqi National Congress in London.

Within the United Nations, Mr. Bayati served as Chairman of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) during the 2006-2007 sixty-first session of the General Assembly.  During the sixty-second session, he served as an Assembly vice-president.

Widely published as an author of books and articles on political matters in both Arabic and English, Mr. Al-Bayati is a lecturer and participant in conferences and regional summits.  Among those in which he took part were the 2004 International Conference for Economic Cooperation in Iran and the 2005 Islamic Conference Organizational Summit in Saudi Arabia.

With a Bachelor of Arts degree in 1974 from Baghdad University, he earned a master’s degree in language and philosophy from Cairo University in 1980.  In 1990, he was awarded a Doctor of Philosophy degree from Manchester University in the United Kingdom.

He holds dual citizenship in Iraq and the United Kingdom.  He is fluent in English and Arabic, with a working knowledge of French, German and Farsi.

Born in Baghdad in 1952, Mr. Al Bayati is married.

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*     This supersedes Press Release BIO/3803 of 12 September 2006.

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