Francesc Vendrell i Vendrell (15 June 1940 – 27 November 2022) was a Spanish Catalan diplomat.

Biography

Vendrell got a Bachelor's degree in law at the

University of Barcelona The University of Barcelona (official name in ; UB), formerly also known as Central University of Barcelona (), is a public research university located in the city of Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. It was established in 1450. With 76,000 students, ...

, continued studying at King's College in London and graduated in modern history at the

University of Cambridge The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

. He became director of the Academy of International Law in

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

in 1979. In 1968 he joined the diplomatic corps of the UN, where he was appointed head of the documentation services of the general secretariat for Europe and America from 1987 to 1992. Among other positions in the high body, he has been the personal representative of the

Secretary-General of the United Nations The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

in the peace processes of

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of El Salvador, is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

and

Nicaragua Nicaragua, officially the Republic of Nicaragua, is the geographically largest Sovereign state, country in Central America, comprising . With a population of 7,142,529 as of 2024, it is the third-most populous country in Central America aft ...

(1989–1991),

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

(1990–1992) and

East Timor Timor-Leste, also known as East Timor, officially the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste, is a country in Southeast Asia. It comprises the eastern half of the island of Timor, the coastal exclave of Oecusse in the island's northwest, and ...

(1999). He has participated in diplomatic missions to the

Caucasus The Caucasus () or Caucasia (), is a region spanning Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is situated between the Black Sea and the Caspian Sea, comprising parts of Southern Russia, Georgia, Armenia, and Azerbaijan. The Caucasus Mountains, i ...

(1992) and

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

(1993), and was director of the political affairs division for East Asia and the Pacific (1993–1997) and of the combined Asia-Pacific division (1998–1999). In 1999 he was appointed head of the UN Secretary-General's Office for Political Affairs in Asia, the Pacific, America and Europe. From 2000 to 2002, he headed the UN special mission to Afghanistan ( UNSMA), and was later appointed representative of the European Union. In 2002 he received the

Creu de Sant Jordi The Creu de Sant Jordi (, in English language, English 'St George's Cross') is one of the highest civil distinctions awarded in Catalonia (Spain), surpassed only in protocol by the Gold Medal of the Generalitat of Catalonia, Gold Medal of the G ...

Award by the

Government of Catalonia The Generalitat de Catalunya (; ; ), or the Government of Catalonia, is the institutional system by which Catalonia is self-governed as an autonomous community of Spain. It is made up of the Parliament of Catalonia, the President of the Govern ...

. Between 2002 and September 2008 he was appointed by the European Union as its Special Representative for Afghanistan. During the academic year of 2008-2009, he was visiting professor at the

Woodrow Wilson School The Princeton School of Public and International Affairs (''abbrev.'' SPIA; formerly the Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs) is a professional public policy school at Princeton University. The school provides an array of co ...

. Afterwards, he worked as an adjunct professor at the School for Advanced International Studies (SAIS),

Johns Hopkins University The Johns Hopkins University (often abbreviated as Johns Hopkins, Hopkins, or JHU) is a private university, private research university in Baltimore, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1876 based on the European research institution model, J ...

, Bologna campus.

Awards

(2002) * Member of the Order of St. Michael and St. George * Order of Wazir Akhbar Khan (Afghanistan) * Honorary Doctorate,

Ramon Llull University University Ramon Llull (, URL; ) is a private university located in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain established in 1990. Currently it is made up of several different colleges specializing in different subjects; most of which are located in downtown Ba ...

(2015) *

Ordem da Liberdade The Order of Liberty, or the Order of Freedom (), is a Portuguese honorific civil order that distinguishes relevant services to the cause of democracy and freedom, in the defense of the values of civilization and human dignity. The order was cre ...

(Order of Liberty, 2019)SAPO
''Ian Martin, Francesc Vendrell e Tamrat Samuel vão ser condecorados por Portugal em Timor'', August 21, 2019
, accessed 21 September 2019. * Ordem de Timor-Leste (2019)President of East Timor
''PRESIDENT OF THE REPUBLIC BESTOWS UPON TEN INDIVIDUALS AND ENTITIES THE ORDER OF TIMOR-LESTE'', 1 September 2019
accessed 3 September 2019.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Vendrell i Vendrell, Francesc 1940 births 2022 deaths Spanish diplomats United Nations officials Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Recipients of the Order of Timor-Leste Princeton University faculty Yale University faculty Rutgers University faculty People from Barcelona