Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan was a career

diplomat A diplomat (from ; romanization, romanized ''diploma'') is a person appointed by a state (polity), state, International organization, intergovernmental, or Non-governmental organization, nongovernmental institution to conduct diplomacy with one ...

and academic from the Sultanate of Oman., and one of the longest-serving diplomats to

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

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 ...

, Permanent Delegate of

Oman Oman, officially the Sultanate of Oman, is a country located on the southeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in West Asia and the Middle East. It shares land borders with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, and Yemen. Oman’s coastline ...

from 1984 to 2009. He was promoted to Adviser with Special Grade at the Permanent Delegation in 2009 and continued in this capacity until 2016. From 2016 until his retirement in 2018 he served at the Embassy of Oman in Paris. He was decorated with 1 UNESCO

Gold Medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

, 3 UNESCO

Silver Medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

s as well as the

honorary title A title is one or more words used before or after a person's name, in certain contexts. It may signify their generation, official position, military rank, professional or academic qualification, or nobility. In some languages, titles may be ins ...

of "Ambassador for Peace". Dr. Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Hassan died in Paris, France on 26 September 2020.

Early life and education

Hassan was born in 1950 to a merchant family in the commercial centre of

, Mutrah. As a young man, he studied

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

at Beirut University in Lebanon, before returning to Oman in 1976. He was appointed the Director of the Department of Cultural Relations at the Ministry of Education. In the same year, he was named for the second time as President of the Al-Alhy Club and in 1983 was elected as the first Secretary-General of the University Club in

Muscat Muscat (, ) is the capital and most populous city in Oman. It is the seat of the Governorate of Muscat. According to the National Centre for Statistics and Information (NCSI), the population of the Muscat Governorate in 2022 was 1.72 million. ...

, which later became known as the 'Cultural Club'.

Diplomatic work

In 1982, Hassan's position at the Ministry of Education was extended to Director General of Missions and External Relations. In this capacity, he attended the conferences of

, the Office of International Education, and The Arab Organisation for Education, Culture, and Science. In 1984, He was appointed as Ambassador, Permanent Delegate of the Sultanate of Oman to UNESCO, in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, France. Hassan worked as a permanent delegate of Oman from 1984 to 2009, during which time he served as President of the General Conference. He was awarded a UNESCO gold medal and three UNESCO silver medals.https://wayback.archive-it.org/10611/20151225084222/http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=39854&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html In 2009, Hassan was promoted by Royal Decree to the position of Adviser with Special Grade as the Permanent Delegate of Oman to UNESCO from 2009 to 2016. From 2016 until his retirement at the end of 2018, he continued his diplomatic work as Adviser with Special Grade at the Embassy of the Sultanate of Oman in Paris.

Awards and accolades

In 2007 Hassan was awarded the title of 'Ambassador for peace' by the International Federation for World Peace and the International Federation of Religions for Peace. He also held the Order of Cultural Merit in the Arts and Literature of the rank of commander of the French Republic, and the Presidential Medal of Honor from the Republic of Bulgaria, both awarded in 2008. In January 2016, he was awarded the Oman Civil Order, Third Class, by Sultan Qaboos Bin Said.

Other works

Hassan worked with the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

's Educational, Cultural and Scientific Organization (ALECSO) as a member of Oman's delegation to the general conferences of ALECSO, and as Member of the Organization’s Executive Board (1976-1981). He also founded Oman-based business development consultancy Al-Ghafa in 1983, where he later took on an executive board position, as his son Salem Moosa Jaffar Hassan became managing director. He was also Professor Lecturer on

North Africa North Africa (sometimes Northern Africa) is a region encompassing the northern portion of the African continent. There is no singularly accepted scope for the region. However, it is sometimes defined as stretching from the Atlantic shores of t ...

and the

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 ...

at the American Graduate School of International Relations and Diplomacy (Paris) and published a number of scholarly and literary works: "The Development of Omani Administrative Law", "Audat Shanjoub" (The Return of Shanjoub), "Wain Zamanak Ya Bahr" (The Lost Glory of Seafaring Days), "Min al Hayat" (From the Life), "Kalam al Nas Youji al Ras" (Gossip Source of Headache), "Al Darawish Sketches". Hassan had also been an actor and theatre director, and wrote several plays on social and cultural subjects.

Efforts for rights

Hassan was elected president of the 33rd session of the General Conference, UNESCO's supreme governing body, in October 2005 with the unanimous support of the Arab-Group and other electoral groups, the executive board, and served until the end of his mandate in November 2007.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hassan, Musa Bin Jaafar Bin Permanent delegates of Oman to UNESCO Living people Omani activists Year of birth missing (living people)