MFA Press Statement: Appointment of Singapore's Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights

The Government has appointed Ambassador-at-Large Chan Heng Chee as Singapore’s Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).

The AICHR is an organ of ASEAN established in accordance with the ASEAN Charter as the overarching human rights institution in ASEAN with overall responsibility for the promotion and protection of human rights.  In line with its Terms of Reference, the AICHR has submitted a draft ASEAN Human Rights Declaration to the ASEAN Foreign Ministers. The Declaration is expected to be adopted at the 21^st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in November 2012. 

Ambassador Chan succeeds Singapore’s first AICHR Representative, Mr Richard R. Magnus, who will complete his three-year term of service on 31 October 2012.  Ambassador Chan brings with her a wealth of experience from her previous appointments in academia and public service, including as Singapore’s former Permanent Representative to the United Nations and Ambassador to the United States.  Her CV is attached.

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS

SINGAPORE

31 OCTOBER 2012

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY

Ambassador Chan Heng Chee is currently Ambassador-at-Large with the Singapore Foreign Ministry and Chairman of the Lee Kuan Yew Centre for Innovative Cities in the Singapore University of Technology and Design (SUTD).  She is a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights.

She has served as Singapore’s Ambassador to the United States from July 1996 to 14 July 2012.  She was Singapore’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations from 1989 to 1991 and was concurrently High Commissioner to Canada and Ambassador to Mexico.  Previously, she was Executive Director of the Singapore International Foundation (which created a Singapore version of the Peace Corps) and Director of the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies.  She was the founding Director of the Institute of Policy Studies and Head of the Department of Political Science, National University of Singapore.

Ambassador Chan received a number of awards including The Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1999; The Meritorious Service Medal in 2005; The Distinguished Service Order in 2011; Honorary Degrees of Doctor of Letters in 1994 from the University of Newcastle, Australia; and the University of Buckingham (United Kingdom) in 1998.  She was named Singapore’s first “Woman of the Year” in 1991, and was twice awarded the National Book Awards in 1986 for “A Sensation of Independence: A Political Biography of David Marshall” and in 1978 for “The Dynamics of One Party Dominance: The PAP at the Grassroots”. 

When Ambassador Chan left Washington at the end of her appointment, she received the Inaugural Asia Society Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement Award, the Inaugural Foreign Policy Outstanding Diplomatic Achievement Award 2012 and the United States Navy Distinguished Public Service Award.

Ambassador Chan has been a member of the International Advisory Board of the Council on Foreign Relations, New York and a Council Member of the International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London.

Ambassador Chan holds a B.Soc.Sc (Hons) First Class from the National University of Singapore, a M.A. from Cornell University and a Ph.D from the National University of Singapore.

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