People

Ambassador Francesc Vendrell
Former EU Special Representative to Afghanistan
Former LISD Senior Visiting Fellow

Ambassador Vendrell was a Senior Visiting Fellow at LISD and the Frederick H. Schultz '51 Professor of International Policy at the Woodrow Wilson School during the 2008-2009 academic year. He served as the EU Special Representative to Afghanistan from 2002-2008. Prior to this, he was Special Adviser to the Spanish Minister of Foreign Affairs during Spain’s EU Presidency. From January 2000 to December 2001, he was Personal Representative of the Secretary General for Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Special Mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA). Between 1993 and 2000, Vendrell served as Director for Asia and the Pacific Division in the UN Department of Political Affairs. In this capacity, he was senior advisor to, and subsequently Deputy Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor, Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Cambodia and Papua New Guinea and Adviser to the Secretary-General on Myanmar. In 1992, Ambassador Vendrell served as Senior Political Adviser to the UN Special Envoy for Haiti and Director for Special Political Assignments, including serving as the Secretary General’s Special Envoy for the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. Between 1987 and 1992, he was Director for Europe and the Americas in the Office of the Secretary-General and the Secretary General’s Deputy Personal Representative for the Peace Process in Central America, including the Guatemalan, El Salvador and Nicaraguan peace negotiations.

Ambassador Vendrell was Director of Studies at the Hague Academy of International Law, Adjunct Professor of Human Rights and Yale Law School, Adjunct Professor at Rutgers Law School and Lecturer in Constitutional Law at the University of Papua New Guinea.

Curriculum Vitae