Pedro Comissário Afonso (Mozambique) Chair of Sixth Committee

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

The Sixth Committee (Legal) elected Pedro Comissário Afonso (Mozambique) Chair on 7 June.  (See Press Release GA/12422.)

Prior to his appointment as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in 2020, Mr. Afonso was his country’s Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs and Cooperation since February 2020, prior to which he served as Director of the Central Bureau for the Prevention and Combat against Drugs between February 2019 and January 2020.

Between 2012 and 2018, he was Mozambique’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations and the World Trade Organization (WTO) in Geneva.  He served concurrently as Permanent Representative to the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO), International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) in Vienna and Ambassador to the Swiss Confederation.  From 2006 to 2012, he was Ambassador to the Nordic countries, based in Stockholm.

Mr. Afonso was a member of the International Law Commission between 2002 and 2016, serving as President in the latter year.

He earned a post-graduate degree in international law and international relations from Columbia University, United States, in 1994, and a master’s degree in international law and constitutional law from the same institution in 1991.

He was born in Caia, Sofala Province, Mozambique, on 18 September 1957.

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* This supersedes Press Release BIO/5361 of 14 December 2020.