AMBASSADOR Anne Anderson is the permanent representative of Ireland to the United Nations.

Until her appointment last fall, Anderson was Ireland’s ambassador to France since July 2005, and concurrently since January 2007, as non-resident ambassador to Monaco. Anderson, a native of Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, entered the Irish Department of Foreign Affairs in 1972 and has held posts in various parts of the world, including Washington, D.C., Geneva and Brussels.

From 2001 to 2005, Anderson served as permanent representative to the European Union in Brussels, before which she was Ireland’s permanent representative to the United Nations in Geneva, here her responsibilities also included chair of the United Nations Commission on human Rights (1999-2000); vice president of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD)(1997); and chair of the trade policy review body the World Trade Organization. Anderson earned a bachelor’s degree from University College Dublin, and a diploma in legal studies at Kings Inns, Dublin.

“I feel a tremendous sense of privilege in representing Ireland abroad. At the UN, there is real respect for what we stand for,” Anderson says.

“Ireland is seen as a country that struggled, survived, prospered, and understands the imperative to give back. We are a strong and principled voice on all the big issues — development, disarmament, human rights. I am proud to sit behind the Irish nameplate.”

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