New Permanent Representative of Belize Presents Credentials
The new Permanent Representative of Belize to the United Nations, Janine Coye Felson, presented her credentials to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.
(As provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)
With over 20 years of experience in multilateral diplomacy and leadership roles in complex international negotiations, Ambassador Janine Coye Felson has helped to shape global development policy, climate change, climate finance, law of the sea and oceans governance, with particular focus on small-island and low-lying coastal States, to enable integrated approaches for equitable outcomes.
Education
1994 Bachelor of Arts, English, St. Louis University, USA
1997 Juris Doctor, University of Wisconsin, Madison School of Law, USA
1998 Certificate of Legal Education, Norman Manley Law School, Jamaica
Career
1998-2000 Legal Counsel, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Belize
2000-2013 Minister Counsellor, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Belize to the United Nations, New York, USA
2013-2014 Senior Special Advisor (Legal Matters), Office of the President of the sixty-eighth regular session of the United Nations General Assembly, New York, USA
2014-2020 Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Belize to the United Nations, New York, USA
2019-2020 Principal Advisor to the Belize Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS)
2020 Enterprise Fellow, Melbourne Climate Futures, The University of Melbourne, Australia
Lecture Coordinator, Melbourne Law School, The University of Melbourne, Australia
2024 Ambassador, Deputy Permanent Representative, Permanent Mission of Belize to the United Nations, New York, USA
Affiliations
She has served on several bodies including the Green Climate Fund (2019-2020), the United Nations Secretary General’s High-level Expert Group on Net Zero Emissions Commitments of Non-State Entities (2022), and as Facilitator of the Marine Genetic Resources Working Group for the BBNJ Agreement (2016-2023). She maintains a role on the Advisory Group of Ocean Voices (University of Edinburgh), Build Belize Incorporated (USA), the Caribbean Natural Resources Institute (Trinidad and Tobago), and is the Inaugural Head of the Indo-Pacific Climate Hub (The University of Melbourne). She is also a key advisor on climate change and climate finance to the AOSIS and the Caribbean Community (CARICOM). She is currently the co-chair of the BBNJ Preparatory Commission.
Languages English, Spanish, Kriol
She was born in 1975. She is married and has three children.