Officers of the Human Rights Council's Fifteenth Cycle (2021)

Keva Lorraine Bain has been serving as the Permanent Representative of the Bahamas to the United Nations Office at Geneva since February 2020. Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Bain was the Legal Advisor and Acting Director of Trade and Industry in the Ministry of Financial Services of the Bahamas since 2012. Having joined her country’s foreign service in 1987, Ms. Bain has held several positions subsequently including Legal Advisor to the Ministry of Finance, Acting Deputy Registrar in the Court of Appeal of the Commonwealth of the Bahamas and Senior and Chief Counsel in the office of the Attorney-General of the Bahamas.
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Ali Ibn Abi Talib Abdelrahman Mahmoud has been serving as Permanent Representative of Sudan to the United Nations Office at Geneva since August 2020. Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Mahmoud had been working on secondment from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan to the Islamic Development Bank in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, first as a World Trade Organization Expert from 2002 to 2013, then as a Senior Cooperation Specialist from 2013 to 2017, and a Senior Partnership Specialist from 2018 to 2020. A career diplomat, Mr. Mahmoud joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Sudan in 1988 and worked at various departments of the Ministry.
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Ebyan Mahamed Salah, has been serving as the Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Somalia to the United Nations Office at Geneva since August 26, 2019 and presented her credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Salah had been serving as Somalia’s Ambassador to the Republic of India since December 18, 2007. She was a policy analyst and gender advisor to the Prime Minister of the Transitional Federal Government of Somalia from 2004 to 2007, also serving as senior focal point for the Reconstruction and Development Programme for Somalia. Ms. Salah joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Federal Republic of Somalia on May 9, 2007.

Monique T.G. Van Daalen has been serving as Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations Office at Geneva since May 2017. Prior to her appointment to Geneva, Ms. Van Daalen had been serving as the Ambassador of the Netherlands to Germany since 2013. From 2011 to 2013, she was the Director-General for Consular Affairs and Operational Management and Deputy Secretary-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands in The Hague. She was the Deputy Secretary-General at the Ministry from 2009 to 2011. Having joined the Foreign Ministry of the Netherlands in 1988, Ms. Van Daalen held several diplomatic positions including in the United States and in the Republic of Korea.
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Yuri Borissov Sterk has been serving as the Permanent Representative of Bulgaria to the United Nations Office at Geneva since December 2020. Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Sterk had been serving as Bulgaria’s Ambassador to Morocco since June 2019. From May 2017 to June 2019, he was Bulgaria’s Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, and from December 2016 to May 2017, he was the Director of the United Nations and Development Cooperation Directorate at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Mr. Sterk has held several diplomatic positions and in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs since 1994, including Director General for Political Affairs at the Ministry and Special Coordinator for Counter-Terrorism Cooperation.
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Paul Bekkers is the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations Office at Geneva. Before this, he was Chief of Staff and Deputy Head of the Secretariat of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe in Vienna from 2016-2020. Previously he served as Ambassador of the Netherlands to Malaysia, Poland and Belarus. Between 2005 and 2009, Mr. Bekkers was Director for Health, Gender and Civil Society at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at the same time Special Ambassador for HIV/Aids. Earlier in his career, he served in Ghana, Zaire, South Africa, Turkey, and various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague. Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Bekkers had been serving as the Netherlands’ Special Envoy for Mental Health and Psychosocial Support, leading the Corona Taskforce and the Sexual Exploitation and Abuse and Sexual Harassment Taskforce. Mr. Bekkers has a master’s degree in law and studied economics and history. At present, he studies spirituality and philosophy.