Trinidadian Sandra Honoré has been appointed as United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki-moon’s special representative and head of the United Nations Stabilisation Mission in Haiti. The announcement was made by Ki-moon on Friday. Honoré, who is expected to take up her functions on July 15, succeeds Mariano Fernández Amunátegui of Chile, who completed his assignment on January 31. She was born in Tunapuna in 1955, is married and has one child.
Honoré has extensive experience working in multilateral settings, including as chief of staff, Office of the Assistant Secretary-General of the Organization of American States (OAS) from 2000 to 2005. She had an assignment as special assistant to the chief of the OAS Electoral Observation Mission to Haiti from 1995 to 1996.
A statement from the United Nations Information Centre for the Caribbean Area said Honoré is a career diplomat since 1979, and served her government in many capacities. She was the country’s ambassador to Costa Rica until August 2012 and she has also held a number of positions in the Foreign Service, including chief of protocol in the Foreign Ministry in 2007 and director of the Caricom and Caribbean Affairs Division in 2005.
Her prior diplomatic experience includes assignments in the United States from 1997 to 2000 and in Brazil from 1983 to 1988. She has also served in the Office of the Prime Minister. She is a graduate in modern languages from Besançon and Bordeaux Universities (France) and holds diplomas in international relations from the University of the West Indies and a postgraduate diploma in conference interpretation from the Polytechnic of Central London.