Biographical Note

Haniff Hussein of Malaysia Chair of Third Committee

 

Haniff Hussein, Permanent Representative of Malaysia to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Third Committee (Social, Humanitarian and Cultural) on 22 June 2010.  (See Press Release GA/11105.)

Mr. Hussein has served as his country’s Permanent Representative since August 2009.  Prior to that, he was Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg, as well as Head of the Malaysian Mission to the European Union, from August 2008 to April 2011, during which period he was named Personal Representative of the Prime Minister to the Nuclear Security Summit held in Washington,  D.C., in April 2010.

He was Ambassador to Austria between August 2000 and January 2005, with concurrent accreditation to the Czech and Slovak Republics, in addition to serving as Permanent Representative to the United Nations and other International Organizations in Vienna.  During that period, Mr. Hussein was Malaysia’s Governor to the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

In previous service with Malaysia’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York, he was First Secretary from 1988 to 1992, Counsellor between 1992 and 1994 and Minister Counsellor from 1994 to 1995.

Having joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979 as Assistant Secretary for the Southeast Asia Division, Mr. Hussein’s other overseas assignment was Second Secretary and Head of Chancery in Manila from 1982 to 1985.  He also held various positions in the Ministry in 1986, 1998, 2005 and 2008.

Mr. Hussein holds a bachelor’s degree in economics from the University of Malaysia, and a master’s in public administration from Harvard University in the United States.

Born on 26 May 1955 in Kuala Lumpur, he is married and has a son.

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*     This supersedes Press Release BIO/4287 of 13 May 2011.

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