Christoph Heusgen (born 17 March 1955 in

Düsseldorf-Heerdt Heerdt is one of the older quarters of the city of Düsseldorf, part of Borough 4 (Düsseldorf), Borough 4. Heerdt and its neighbouring quarters Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, Oberkassel, Düsseldorf-Niederkassel, Niederkassel and Düsseldorf-Lörick, Lör ...

) is a

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

diplomat who has served as chairman of the Munich Security Conference since 2022. Heusgen served as German Ambassador to the United Nations in New York from 2017 to 2021.New Permanent Representative of Germany Presents Credentials

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

, press release of 26 July 2017. He was Under-Secretary for Foreign and Security Policy in the

German Chancellery The German Chancellery (german: Bundeskanzleramt, , more faithfully translated as ''Federal Chancellery'' or ''Office of the Federal Chancellor'') is an agency serving the executive office of the chancellor of Germany, the head of the federal gov ...

from 2005 to 2017, and described as Angela Merkel's most influential foreign policy and security adviser. During Germany's tenure as a non-permanent member of the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the Organs of the United Nations, six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international security, international peace and security, recommending the admi ...

, Heusgen served as President of the Council in April 2019 and assumed the presidency again in July 2020, with his term ending in December 2020.

Early life and education

The son of

pharmacist A pharmacist, also known as a chemist (Commonwealth English) or a druggist (North American and, archaically, Commonwealth English), is a healthcare professional who prepares, controls and distributes medicines and provides advice and instructi ...

s, Heusgen grew up in

Neuss Neuss (; spelled ''Neuß'' until 1968; li, Nüss ; la, Novaesium) is a city in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. It is located on the west bank of the Rhine opposite Düsseldorf. Neuss is the largest city within the Rhein-Kreis Neuss district. It ...

where he graduated from Quirinus-Gymnasium in 1973. During his high school years, he spent a year as an exchange student at

Western Reserve Academy , motto_translation = Light and Truth , address = 115 College Street , city = Hudson , state = Ohio , zipcode = 44236-2999 , country = United S ...

, a boarding school in

Hudson, Ohio Hudson is a city in Summit County, Ohio, United States. The population was 23,110 at the 2020 census. It is a suburban community in the Akron metropolitan statistical area and the larger Cleveland–Akron–Canton Combined Statistical Area, th ...

. Heusgen studied in St. Gallen, at

Georgia Southern University Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hine ...

(GSU) and at Panthéon-Assas University in Paris, and obtained a doctorate from the

University of St. Gallen A university () is an institution of higher (or tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several academic disciplines. Universities typically offer both undergraduate and postgraduate programs. In the United States, t ...

in 1980. Heusgen also enjoyed watching

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

, stating that he was a fan of

FC Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), also known as FC Bayern (), Bayern Munich, or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. It is best known for its professional men's football team, which play ...

Career

Career in the diplomatic service

Heusgen joined the diplomatic service of

West Germany West Germany is the colloquial term used to indicate the Federal Republic of Germany (FRG; german: Bundesrepublik Deutschland , BRD) between its formation on 23 May 1949 and the German reunification through the accession of East Germany on 3 O ...

in 1980. His first posting was in the press and economic affairs at the Consulate General in Chicago from 1983 to 1986. He served at the German Embassy in Paris until 1988, before returning to the Federal Foreign Office headquarters in Bonn, where he took on the role of Private Secretary to the Coordinator for German-French Relations

Rainer Barzel Rainer Candidus Barzel (20 June 1924 – 26 August 2006) was a German politician of the Christian Democratic Union (CDU). He served as the 8th President of the Bundestag from 1983 to 1984. Barzel had been the leader of his parliamentary group ...

from 1988 to 1990. Heusgen also held the positions of Deputy Head of the special section in charge of negotiations of the Treaty of Maastricht (1990-1992), Deputy Head in charge of European Affairs in the private office of Foreign Minister

Klaus Kinkel Klaus Kinkel (17 December 1936 – 4 March 2019)

(1993-1997). Heusgen was later appointed Director of the Policy Unit of the High Representative Javier Solana in the General Secretariat of the Council of the European Union in Brussels from 1999 to 2005. During that time, together with Robert Cooper, he notably led efforts on drafting the first-ever

European Security Strategy The European Security Strategy is the document in which the European Union clarifies its security strategy which is aimed at achieving a secure Europe in a better world, identifying the threats facing the Union, defining its strategic objectives ...

in 2003.

Chief foreign policy advisor to the Chancellor, 2005–2017

In 2005 Heusgen became Under-Secretary for Foreign and Security Policy in the

. In this capacity, he served as chief advisor on foreign and security policy to

Chancellor Chancellor ( la, cancellarius) is a title of various official positions in the governments of many nations. The original chancellors were the of Roman courts of justice—ushers, who sat at the or lattice work screens of a basilica or law cou ...

Angela Merkel. By the end of his term, he was the longest-serving official in this position. He was succeeded in 2017 by Jan Hecker, a former judge at the Federal Administrative Court.

Ambassador to the United Nations, 2017–2021

In November 2016 it became known that Heusgen would succeed Harald Braun as

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 ...

in New York in 2017. In that capacity, he led the country's campaign for the United Nations Security Council election in 2018. He subsequently served as the

President of the United Nations Security Council The presidency of the United Nations Security Council is responsible for leading the United Nations Security Council. It rotates among the 15 member-states of the council monthly. The head of the country's delegation is known as the President of t ...

in April 2019 and took up the post again in July 2020 when Germany assumed the Presidency once more. During his time as chair of the Security Council, Heusgen notably led negotiations in July 2020 on extending aid deliveries to Syria for one year. Opposition from both Russia and China caused the Council to agree on only one remaining Turkey border crossing. At the time, he told his Chinese and Russian counterparts to report to their capitals that he had asked, "How those people who gave the instructions to cut off the aid of 500,000 children... are ready to look into the mirror tomorrow." In a programmatic announcement 2018, Heusgen criticized the

Trump administration Donald Trump's tenure as the List of presidents of the United States, 45th president of the United States began with Inauguration of Donald Trump, his inauguration on January 20, 2017, and ended on January 20, 2021. Trump, a Republican Party ...

's withdrawal from multilateral formats and its increasingly-unilateral approach, which created "noticeable uncertainty in the UN system." On 6 October 2020, Heusgen delivered a statement, on behalf of the group of 39 countries, including Germany, the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

and the United States, thar denounced China for its treatment of ethnic minorities and for its curtailing of freedoms in

Hong Kong Hong Kong ( (US) or (UK); , ), officially the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of the People's Republic of China ( abbr. Hong Kong SAR or HKSAR), is a city and special administrative region of China on the eastern Pearl River Delt ...

. Later that month, Heusgen appealed to China to release the former diplomat Michael Kovrig, who has been detained by China since 2018. Heusgen used his last scheduled UN Security Council session, whose official agenda topic was

Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also called Persia, is a country located in Western Asia. It is bordered by Iraq and Turkey to the west, by Azerbaijan and Armenia to the northwest, by the Caspian Sea and Turkmeni ...

, to call again on China to release Kovrig and the consultant

Michael Spavor Michael Peter Todd Spavor (born 1976) is a Canadian consultant who has worked extensively in North Korea. He is the director and founding member of Paektu Cultural Exchange, a NGO that facilitates sports, cultural, Tourism in North Korea, touri ...

, who had likewise been detained in 2018. Chinese Deputy Ambassador

Geng Shuang Geng Shuang (; born April 1973) is a Chinese politician serving as China's Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations. He formerly served as the deputy director of the Foreign Ministry Information Department of the People's Republic o ...

bluntly dismissed the appeal.

Other activities

* European Council on Foreign Relations (ECFR), Member (since 2021) * Dag Hammarskjöld Fund for Journalists, Member of the Honorary Advisory Council (since 2017) * International Gender Champions (IGC), Member * International Peace Institute (IPI), Member of the International Advisory Council * German Institute for International and Security Affairs (SWP), Member of the council (2005-2017)

Recognition

* 2006 –

Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold for Services to the Republic of Austria The Decoration of Honour for Services to the Republic of Austria (german: Ehrenzeichen für Verdienste um die Republik Österreich) is a state decoration of the Republic of Austria. It is divided into 15 classes and is the highest award in the A ...

* 2009 –

Order of Prince Henry The Order of Prince Henry ( pt, Ordem do Infante Dom Henrique) is a Portuguese order of knighthood created on 2 June 1960, to commemorate the quincentenary of the death of the Portuguese prince Henry the Navigator, one of the main initiators of ...

* 2015 –

Badge of Honour of the Bundeswehr The Decorations of Honour of the Bundeswehr (german: Ehrenzeichen der Bundeswehr) are a series of military decorations of the Bundeswehr, the armed forces of the Federal Republic of Germany. These honours and awards were introduced in 1980 on the ...

in Gold (awarded by Federal Minister of Defence

Ursula von der Leyen Ursula Gertrud von der Leyen (; Albrecht, born 8 October 1958) is a German politician who has been serving as the president of the European Commission since 2019. She served in the Cabinet of Germany, German federal government between 2005 an ...

)

Personal life

Heusgen is married to fellow career diplomat Ina Heusgen, and has four children. He is a fan of FC Bayern Munich and in his free time he runs marathons. During his time at the Chancellery, he regularly invited foreign ambassadors to the

Neuss Schützenfest The Neuss Schützenfest, officially the Neuss' citizens' marksmen's festival (german: Neusser Bürger-Schützenfest), is the Schützenfest of the German city of Neuss. It is held annually on the last weekend in August. With more than 7,500 parading ...

in his hometown, including Phil Murphy in 2012, Simon McDonald in 2014,

Philippe Étienne Philippe Noël Marie Marc Étienne (born 24 December 1955) is a French diplomat who has served as Ambassador of France to the United States since 2019. He previously served as chief diplomatic adviser to the President of France, Emmanuel Macro ...

in 2015 and

John B. Emerson John Bonnell Emerson (born January 11, 1954) is an American diplomat, lawyer, business executive and the former United States Ambassador to Germany, having served from 2013 to 2017. Emerson was the 2015 recipient of the State Department’s Sue M ...

in 2016.

Criticisms

In 2017, the German tabloid ''

Bild ''Bild'' (or ''Bild-Zeitung'', ; ) is a German tabloid newspaper published by Axel Springer SE. The paper is published from Monday to Saturday; on Sundays, its sister paper ''Bild am Sonntag'' ("''Bild on Sunday''") is published instead, which ...

'' spread leaked information from Russian hacker group

Fancy Bear Fancy Bear (also known as APT28 (by Mandiant), Pawn Storm, Sofacy Group (by Kaspersky), Sednit, Tsar Team (by FireEye) and STRONTIUM (by Microsoft)) is a Russian cyber espionage group. Cybersecurity firm CrowdStrike has said with a medium level ...

, believed to be linked to Russian intelligence agency GRU, who had hacked into the United Nations’ email system and obtained Heusgen's correspondences, including one which suggested that he helped his wife get a job at the UN. Journalists familiar with the issue of working couples reported that it is not uncommon for both partners to seek employment. The Simon Wiesenthal Center listed Heusgen for 2019 among the year's 10 worst acts of antisemitism. German tabloid ''

'' “accused Heusgen in an editorial of ‘pure malice’ against the Jewish state.” The Wiesenthal Center further added that Heusgen “equated 130 rockets fired by terrorist Hamas at Israeli civilians in one week in March with the Jewish state’s demolition of terrorists’ homes”. This accusation was refuted by the Chancellor Angela Merkel in her reply to the

Bundestag The Bundestag (, "Federal Diet") is the German federal parliament. It is the only federal representative body that is directly elected by the German people. It is comparable to the United States House of Representatives or the House of Commons ...

as well by several members of the German Government, including Andreas Michaelis, then State Secretary at the Federal Foreign Office. Michaelis, former Ambassador to Israel, urged the Wiesenthal Center in a leaked letter that the listing was “a big mistake” which “misses the mark and targets an honorable friend of Israel”. Israel's Ambassador to Germany also defended Heusgen saying the accusation was totally inappropriate. The German Foreign Office pointed to Heusgen's long track record of supporting Israel's security.

References

External links

* Video
An evening with Stephen Hadley in discussion with Christoph Heusgen
{{DEFAULTSORT:Heusgen, Christoph German diplomats 1955 births Living people Permanent Representatives of Germany to the United Nations