Mona Juul (born 10 April 1959) is a Norwegian diplomat and former politician for the Labour Party. She worked at the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian or ''Utenriksdepartementet''; or ''Utanriksdepartementet''; UD) is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June 7, 1905, the same day the Parliament of ...

and has been an ambassador to several countries. Juul hails from Sparbu, and was educated in

political science Political science is the scientific study of politics. It is a social science dealing with systems of governance and Power (social and political), power, and the analysis of political activities, political philosophy, political thought, polit ...

. She played a key role facilitating the

Oslo Accords The Oslo Accords are a pair of interim agreements between Israel and the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO): the Oslo I Accord, signed in Washington, D.C., in 1993; and the Oslo II Accord, signed in Taba, Egypt, in 1995. They marked the st ...

in the 1990s. On 25 July 2019, Juul was elected

President of the United Nations Economic and Social Council The president of the United Nations Economic and Social Council is the presiding officer of that body. The position voted for by members Member may refer to: * Military jury, referred to as "Members" in military jargon * Element (mathematics ...

Oslo Accords

Along with her husband

Terje Rød-Larsen Terje Rød-Larsen (born 22 November 1947) is a Norwegian diplomat, politician, and sociologist. Rød-Larsen came to wide international prominence as a key figure in the 1990s negotiations that led to the Oslo Accords—the first-ever agreements ...

, Juul played a key role in the 1990s

—pivotal agreements on

Middle East The Middle East (term originally coined in English language) is a geopolitical region encompassing the Arabian Peninsula, the Levant, Turkey, Egypt, Iran, and Iraq. The term came into widespread usage by the United Kingdom and western Eur ...

peace. The secret negotiations, largely arranged and facilitated by Juul and her husband, led to the peace agreement signing on 13 September 1993 in

Washington D.C. Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

, of the first-ever agreement between

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

and the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO).''Brantley, Ben
"Review: A Byzantine Path to Middle East Peace in 'Oslo',"
July 11, 2016, ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' retrieved May 6, 2017Jones, Chris
"'Argo' and the new play 'Oslo' are stories about heroes nobody knows,"
April 21, 2017, ''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

'' retrieved May 6, 2017 Rose, Charlie (interviewer), with interviewees diplomat

, playwright J. T. Rogers, and director Bartlett Sher, with other segments, in
Charlie Rose: The Week, May 5, 2017
'' (Video) as aired May 6, 2017,

Public Broadcasting System The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, Terrestrial television, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prom ...

(PBS), retrieved May 6, 2017Rogers, J.T. (playwright)
Theater: "'Oslo' and the Drama in Diplomacy"
June 17, 2016, The ''

'' retrieved May 6, 2017 Juul and the rest of the

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

team of

facilitator A facilitator is a person who helps a Social group, group of people to work together better, understand their common objectives, and plan how to achieve these objectives, during meetings or discussions. In doing so, the facilitator remains "neut ...

s focused on the conflict between Israel and the PLO, knowing that a peace agreement would have to be created by the adversaries themselves and that a group acting as mediator would be vital in making appropriate arrangements for negotiations. The 2016 Broadway play, ''

'' by noted playwright J. T. Rogers, is a widely praised dramatization of the previously unheralded role of Juul and her husband, and others, in developing the back-channel communications that (reportedly) saved the Oslo negotiations from collapsing.

21st century career

During the first cabinet Stoltenberg, from 2000 to 2001, Juul was appointed State Secretary in the

Ministry of Foreign Affairs In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

. From 2001 to 2004 she served as the Norwegian

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or so ...

. From 2005 to 2010 she served as a deputy director and ambassador in the Norwegian delegation to the United Nations in New York City. In 2014, she succeeded Kim Traavik as Ambassador to the United Kingdom. On 7 September 2018, she was nominated to become the next permanent representative of Norway to the United Nations. She presented her credentials to

UN Secretary General 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 ...

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

on 14 January 2019, and assumed office the same day. As permanent representative, she notably spearheaded the successful Norwegian campaign for a seat at the UN Security Council for the 2021–2022 term. In January 2023, Merete Fjeld Brattested was nominated as her successor. Brattested officially took over on 1 September. In October 2024, she was nominated as the new ambassador to

Jordan Jordan, officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, is a country in the Southern Levant region of West Asia. Jordan is bordered by Syria to the north, Iraq to the east, Saudi Arabia to the south, and Israel and the occupied Palestinian ter ...

References

External links

The Steinkjer encyclopedia
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Juul, Mona 1959 births Living people Ambassadors of Norway to Israel Ambassadors of Norway to the United Kingdom Israeli–Palestinian peace process Labour Party (Norway) politicians Norwegian state secretaries People from Steinkjer Norwegian women ambassadors Permanent representatives of Norway to the United Nations 20th-century Norwegian women politicians 20th-century Norwegian politicians 21st-century Norwegian women politicians 21st-century Norwegian politicians