MFA Press Statement: Appointment of Singapore’s New Representatives to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR)

        The Government of Singapore has appointed Ambassador Barry Desker as Singapore’s Representative to the ASEAN Intergovernmental Commission on Human Rights (AICHR).  Ambassador Desker’s term of service will begin on 1 January 2016.  Dr Shashi Jayakumar has been appointed as Singapore’s alternate Representative to the AICHR.  In the absence of Singapore’s Representative to the AICHR, the alternate Representative will have the full mandate to represent Singapore. 

        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 developed an ASEAN Human Rights Declaration which was adopted by the ASEAN Leaders at the 21^st ASEAN Summit in Phnom Penh in November 2012. 

        Ambassador Desker succeeds Singapore’s second AICHR Representative, Ambassador-at-Large Chan Heng Chee, who will complete her term of service on 31 December 2015.  Ambassador Desker brings a wealth of experience from the public, private and academic sectors.  He is currently Singapore’s Non-Resident Ambassador to the Holy See and Spain, and was Singapore’s Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993.  He was also the Chief Executive Officer of the Trade Development Board from 1994 to 2000.  Ambassador Desker was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1992.  Ambassador Desker was the Dean of the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS) from 2007 to 2014, and remains a Distinguished Fellow at the School.  He has been a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights since 15 July 2012. 

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MINISTRY OF FOREIGN AFFAIRS
SINGAPORE
4 DECEMBER 2015

BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY OF MR BARRY DESKER

Mr Desker is currently the Non-Resident Ambassador of Singapore to the Holy See and Spain.  He is also a Member of the Presidential Council for Minority Rights and a Member of the Board of Directors of the Lee Kuan Yew Exchange Fellowship.

Mr Desker is a Distinguished Fellow and holds the inaugural Bakrie Professorship of Southeast Asia Policy at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.  He is also a Member of the Governing Board of the Economic Research Institute for ASEAN and East Asia,  the Board of Directors of the Cordell Hull Institute (Washington DC), Member of the Trilateral Commission and an Honorary Advisor of the UN Association of Singapore.

Mr Desker joined the Singapore Foreign Service in 1970.  He was appointed as Deputy Secretary in the Administrative Service in 1982. From 1984 to 1986, he was the Director of the Policy, Planning and Analysis Division at MFA.  He served as Singapore’s Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York from 1982 to 1984 and was the Ambassador to Indonesia from 1986 to 1993.  He was the Chief Executive Officer of the Trade Development Board from 1994 to 2000.  Mr Desker was the Dean of RSIS from 2007 to 2014, and the Director of the Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies from 2000 to 2014.

Mr Desker is currently also the Chairman of Singapore Technologies Marine.

Mr Desker was born on 29 March 1947.  A President’s Scholar who was educated at St Patrick’s School, he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts (First Class Honours) from the University of Singapore and later obtained a Master of Arts from the University of London on a Ford Foundation Fellowship.  He was also a Ford Foundation Fellow at Cornell University from 1973 to 1974.  He was awarded an honorary doctorate by Warwick University in 2012 and by the University of Exeter in 2013. 

Mr Desker was awarded the Public Administration Medal (Gold) in 1992 and Long Service Award in 1995.

Mr Desker is married to Peggy Ann Rozario and they have two children.

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BIOGRAPHICAL SUMMARY OF DR SHASHI JAYAKUMAR

Dr Shashi Jayakumar is currently the Head, Centre of Excellence for National Security (CENS) at the S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS), Nanyang Technological University.

Dr Jayakumar was educated at Oxford University where he studied History.  He has been a member of the Singapore Administrative Service since 2002.  During this time, he was posted to various Ministries, including the Ministries of Defence, Manpower, Information and the Arts, and Community Development, Youth and Sports.  Dr Jayakumar was a Senior Visiting Research Fellow at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy from 2011 to 2014.  The main focus of his research and writing there was local society and politics.  His other research interests include extremism, social resilience, and homeland defence.

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