Independent Eminent Persons

Gert Rosenthal (Guatemala)

Mr. Rosenthal has held senior positions in the Guatemalan Government – he was Minister of Planning and Foreign Minister between 1969-1974 and 2006-2008, respectively – and with the United Nations. He was the Executive Secretary of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) from 1989-1997 and has since been Permanent Representative of Guatemala to the United Nations twice (1999-2004, 2008-2014), heading his delegation in the Security Council from 2012-2013. In January 2015, the then Secretary-General nominated Mr. Rosenthal as a member of the Advisory Group of Experts on the Review of the Peacebuilding Architecture.

Roza Otunbayeva (Kyrgyzstan)

Ms. Otunbayeva is a former President of Kyrgyzstan. In 1991, she became both Foreign Minister and Deputy Prime Minister of the newly independent country. She served as foreign minister three times (1991, 1994-1997, 2005). She worked for the United Nations as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Georgia (2002-2004). She was elected to parliament in 2007 and served as President between 2010 and 2011 – Central Asia’s first woman leader. She is currently a Member of the Club de Madrid, the Board of Trustees of the International Crisis Group, and the Board of the UN University for Peace, among other affiliations.

Nasser Judeh (Jordan)

Mr. Judeh is a member of the Jordanian Senate and the Former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates of Jordan, a position he held between 2009 and 2017. An early career in media and communications led to positions as Government Spokesman and then, between 2007-2009, Minister of State for Media Affairs and Communication. Mr. Judeh has worked diligently and passionately during his term in office in the pursuit of peace between Palestinians and Israelis, as well as advancing efforts towards a political solution in Syria. In December 2012, Mr. Judeh was named as a member of the Arab diplomatic delegation, headed by Arab League chief Nabil al-Arabi, which addressed the political conflict between the Palestinian National Authority and Israel.

Liberata Mulamula (Tanzania)

A Visiting Scholar and Acting Director of the Institute for African Studies at the George Washington University, Elliott School of International Affairs, Liberata Mulamula’s areas of interest are women’s empowerment and leadership in Africa. A graduate of St. Johns’ University, USA and a distinguished career diplomat, she served as Tanzania Ambassador to the United States and Senior Diplomatic Advisor to the former President of Tanzania, H.E. Jakaya Kikwete. She also served as the First Executive Secretary of the Regional Inter-Governmental Organization for Peace, Stability and Development in the Great Lakes Region covering 11 post- conflict countries of Africa and others, and is currently on the Advisory Group of the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund. She is a recipient of the Order of the United Republic of Tanzania 2015 Award for Distinguished Public Service.

Annika Soder (Sweden)

Annika Söder has had a long and distinguished career as a diplomat and politician, and a strong track record in crisis management, political negotiations and mediation. Ms. Söder previously served as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs, as well as State Secretary for International Development Cooperation in the Swedish Government offices, spokesperson of the Foreign Ministry, and foreign policy advisor to the Prime Minister and several foreign ministers. In addition, she has senior management experience from the UN system as well as from the NGO community and has served in the former Secretary-General’s “One United Nations” initiative as Vice Chair of the UN Development Group