Antje Leendertse (born March 7, 1963) is a German diplomat. She has been

Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations The role of the ambassador and permanent representative of Germany to the United Nations is as the leader of the German delegation to the United Nations in New York City and as head of the Permanent Mission of the Federal Republic of Germany to th ...

since September 2021. She was Political Director at the

Federal Foreign Office The Federal Foreign Office (, ; abbreviated AA) is the Foreign minister, foreign ministry of the Federal Republic of Germany, a federal agency (Germany), federal agency responsible for both the country's foreign policy and its relationship with ...

from April 2018 to February 2019, then State Secretary at the

under Minister

Heiko Maas Heiko Josef Maas (; born 19 September 1966) is a German lawyerMarcus Jung (15 December 2022)�''Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung''. and former politician of the Social Democratic Party of Germany, Social Democratic Party (SPD) who served as the Mini ...

until mid-2021.

Career

Leendertse began her preparatory service for the higher foreign service in 1990 and joined the

after completing it in 1992. After working in the Department for Mediterranean Countries in the Political Division of the Federal Foreign Office, she worked at the Embassy in Russia from 1993 to 1997 and in the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Policy Division at the Federal Foreign Office from 1997 to 1999. She then worked in the Press Division of the Federal Foreign Office from 1999 to 2005, where she was deputy spokesperson from 2002 to 2005. After a subsequent posting at the Embassy in the United Kingdom from 2005 to 2006 and a year's parental leave, she served as Permanent Representative of the Ambassador to

Finland Finland, officially the Republic of Finland, is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It borders Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of Bothnia to the west and the Gulf of Finland to the south, ...

from 2007 to 2009. After her return, she was Head of Division for the Western Balkans at the Federal Foreign Office from 2009 to 2012 and then Commissioner for Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia at the Federal Foreign Office from 2012 to March 2014. From March 2014 to March 2015, Leendertse was Federal Government Commissioner for Disarmament and Arms Control at the Federal Foreign Office. She was then Deputy to the Special Representative of the Federal Government for the

OSCE The Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) is a regional security-oriented intergovernmental organization comprising member states in Europe, North America, and Asia. Its mandate includes issues such as arms control, the pr ...

Chairmanship Gernot Erler and Head of the OSCE Chairmanship Task Force 2016. From February 2017 to April 2018, Leendertse was Ambassador and Permanent Representative of the Federal Republic of Germany to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in

Geneva Geneva ( , ; ) ; ; . is the List of cities in Switzerland, second-most populous city in Switzerland and the most populous in French-speaking Romandy. Situated in the southwest of the country, where the Rhône exits Lake Geneva, it is the ca ...

. Foreign Minister

appointed Leendertse as the new Political Director at the Federal Foreign Office in April 2018. She succeeded Andreas Michaelis, who was promoted to State Secretary. Just under a year later, she was appointed Permanent State Secretary, succeeding Walter Johannes Lindner, who became Ambassador to

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

, on March 22, 2019. In the summer of 2021, Leendertse was criticized for dismissing and downplaying urgent warnings from the German embassy in

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. It is bordered by Pakistan to the Durand Line, east and south, Iran to the Afghanistan–Iran borde ...

that

Kabul Kabul is the capital and largest city of Afghanistan. Located in the eastern half of the country, it is also a municipality, forming part of the Kabul Province. The city is divided for administration into #Districts, 22 municipal districts. A ...

would soon fall as the Taliban

advanced The Advanced Party (), otherwise known as the Advanced Association () was a liberal and centrist Zionist political association in Mandatory Palestine founded by several urban liberal Zionists. The party was founded in order to represent the voice ...

, supposedly in the (ultimately futile) hope of delaying the fall of the city until after the 2021 federal election. Leendertse has been

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

since September 2021.

Positions

Leendertse is a member of the

International Gender Champions International Gender Champions (IGC) is a network of female and male leaders of member states, international organizations, and civil society working for gender equality. It is an initiative of Women@TheTable, and was founded in 2015 by Caitlin Kr ...

, which promotes

gender equality Gender equality, also known as sexual equality, gender egalitarianism, or equality of the sexes, is the state of equal ease of access to resources and opportunities regardless of gender, including economic participation and decision-making, an ...

in national and international organizations.

External links

*
Ambassador Antje Leendertse, Permanent Representative of Germany to the United Nations in New York, Video of the United Nations Peacebuilding Support Office, uploaded 29 January 2022

Antje Leendertse at the emergency meeting Ukraine/Russia of the UN Security Council on February 22, 2022

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Leendertse, Antje 1963 births Living people Permanent representatives of Germany to the United Nations German women diplomats