Eden Charles of Trinidad and Tobago Chair of Sixth Committee

Eden Charles, Deputy Permanent Representative of Trinidad and Tobago to the United Nations, was elected Chair of the Sixth Committee (Legal) on 15 June 2015.  (See Press Release GA/11654.)

Mr. Charles has been Deputy Permanent Representative since March 2012.  Prior to his posting to the United Nations, he served in the Treaties, International Agreements and Legal Division of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he advised on international legal issues, negotiated multilateral agreements and drafted international instruments.

Mr. Charles has represented Trinidad and Tobago in the Sixth Committee (Legal) and has advised on international law issues in the plenary; the main committees; ad hoc committees; and working groups.  He has also advised the Mission on matters concerning disarmament and international peace and security.

In addition, Mr. Charles has chaired committees appointed by the Assembly of States parties to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court and represented his country on its Bureau, as well as at meetings of States Parties to the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.  He also represented Trinidad and Tobago on the Council of the national Seabed Authority and was appointed Lead Negotiator of the Member States of the Caribbean Community (CARICOM) for the United Nations Diplomatic Conference on the Arms Trade Treaty, as well as for that Treaty’s Final Conference.

Currently serving as Coordinator of the annual omnibus resolution of the United Nations Division for Ocean Affairs and Law of the Sea, he was recently appointed as Coordinator of the resolution relating to the conclusion of an implementing agreement under the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea on the conservation and sustainable use of marine biological diversity in areas beyond national jurisdiction.  In addition he was appointed Chairperson of the Preparatory Committee recommending elements of a draft text for a legally binding instrument on that matter to the General Assembly.

A national of Trinidad and Tobago, Mr. Charles is a graduate of the University of the West Indies and the University of London.  He is married with two children.

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*     This supersedes Press Release BIO/4258 of 16 December 2010.