Carolyn Allison Rodrigues-Birkett (born September 16, 1973"Meet the New Cabinet Members"
GINA. ) is a Guyanese politician who was appointed Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations in 2020.New Permanent Representative of Guyana presents credentials
United Nations biographical note BIO/5323 (2 October 2020). Retrieved 23 December 2020. She previously served as Director of the

Food and Agriculture Organization The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)french: link=no, Organisation des Nations unies pour l'alimentation et l'agriculture; it, Organizzazione delle Nazioni Unite per l'Alimentazione e l'Agricoltura is an intern ...

Liaison Office in

Geneva , neighboring_municipalities= Carouge, Chêne-Bougeries, Cologny, Lancy, Grand-Saconnex, Pregny-Chambésy, Vernier, Veyrier , website = https://www.geneve.ch/ Geneva ( ; french: Genève ) frp, Genèva ; german: link=no, Genf ; it, Ginevr ...

from 2017 to 2020 and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Guyana from 2008 to 2015.

Life and career

Rodrigues, an

Amerindian The Indigenous peoples of the Americas are the inhabitants of the Americas before the arrival of the European settlers in the 15th century, and the ethnic groups who now identify themselves with those peoples. Many Indigenous peoples of the A ...

,David Mangurian
"The "Iron Woman" of Guyana"
, IBDAmerica, August 2001. was born in Moruca,

Santa Rosa Santa Rosa is the Italian, Portuguese and Spanish name for Saint Rose. Santa Rosa may also refer to: Places Argentina *Santa Rosa, Mendoza, a city * Santa Rosa, Tinogasta, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, Valle Viejo, Catamarca * Santa Rosa, La Pampa * S ...

, Barima-Waini Region. After attending a private school in Georgetown, she received a scholarship for Amerindians and went to study business administration at the

University of Regina The University of Regina is a public university, public research university located in Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada. Founded in 1911 as a private denominational high school of the Methodist Church of Canada, it began an association with the Unive ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

and returned to Guyana in 1993. She was required by her scholarship to work for Amerindian communities, and as a result she left the lumber company where she worked and instead went to work for the Inter-American Development Bank's Social Impact Amelioration Programme (SIMAP) in Guyana, although this meant 65% less pay. She became Coordinator of SIMAP's Amerindian Projects Programme, holding that post until 2001, when she went to study in social work at the

University of Guyana The University of Guyana, in Georgetown, Guyana, is Guyana's national higher education institution. It was established in April 1963 with the following Mission: "To discover, generate, disseminate, and apply knowledge of the highest standard for ...

. Rodrigues was appointed to the Cabinet as Minister of Amerindian Affairs in April 2001. Following the 2006 general election, she was reappointed as Minister of Amerindian Affairs and sworn in on 4 September 2006. After nearly seven years as Minister of Amerindian Affairs, she was succeeded by

Pauline Campbell-Sukhai Pauline Rose Ann Campbell-Sukhai is a Guyanese politician. She is the current Minister of Amerindian Affairs in Guyana Guyana ( or ), officially the Cooperative Republic of Guyana, is a country on the northern mainland of South America. ...

on 4 January 2008. She was then appointed as Minister of Foreign Affairs on 9 April 2008, replacing

Rudy Insanally Samuel Rudolph "Rudy" Insanally (born 23 January 1936)
, Office of the President of Guyana, 9 September 2006. is a Guyanese ...

."Rodrigues appointed Foreign Affairs Minister"
GINA, April 9, 2008. She was sworn in on April 10. Rodrigues continued to serve as Minister of Foreign Affairs until the People's Progressive Party (PPP) lost the May 2015 general election. She was subsequently offered a spot on the PPP's list of MPs, but she chose not to take a seat in the National Assembly, preferring to work abroad. She was appointed Director of the

Liaison Office with the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be a centre for harmoniz ...

in August 2017, and Permanent Representative of Guyana to the United Nations in 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodrigues, Carolyn 1973 births Living people Female foreign ministers Foreign ministers of Guyana Government ministers of Guyana Women government ministers of Guyana People from Barima-Waini University of Regina alumni University of Guyana alumni Guyanese people of indigenous peoples descent