President of the 5th Cycle
Sihasak Phuangketkeow, President of the Human Rights Council, Fifth Cycle (2010 - 2011)
Mr. Phuangketkeow serves as Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations Office at Geneva since 2007. Prior to his appointment to Geneva he had been serving as Deputy Permanent Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand since 2006. From 2002 to 2006, he was Director-General at the Department of Information and Spokesman of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
A career diplomat, Mr. Phuangketkeow joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1979 and has held posts in the Department of Information, the Department of Political Affairs; the Office of the Permanent Secretary; and the Department of East Asian Affairs. His foreign postings include serving in Washington from 1983 to 1987; serving in Tokyo from 1992 to 1996; and serving as Consul General of the Royal Thai Consulate-General in Hong Kong from 2000 to 2002.
Mr. Phuangketkeow has a Bachelor of Political Science in international relations from Chulalongkom University in Thailand and a Master of Arts in international public policy from Johns Hopkins University in the United States. He was born on 21 December 1957 and is married.
"We have an overriding obligation to serve our constituency-the people who are in dire need of human rights protection; the people who are subject to human rights abuses on a daily basis"
H.E. Mr. Sihasak Phuangketkeow, upon assuming the Presidency of the Human Rights Council, 21 June 2010.