Jan, Baron Grauls, born 12 February 1948, is a former Belgian diplomat.

Education

Jan Grauls studied Law at the University of Antwerp and at the

Catholic University of Leuven University of Leuven or University of Louvain (french: Université de Louvain, link=no; nl, Universiteit Leuven, link=no) may refer to: * Old University of Leuven (1425–1797) * State University of Leuven (1817–1835) * Catholic University of ...

Career

Jan Grauls joined EY as senior advisor on 1 April 2013. Before joining EY, he had been in the Belgian diplomatic service for more than forty years. His last assignment was Ambassador-Permanent Representative of Belgium to the

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 ...

in New York. In that capacity, he served as a 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 ...

(he held the office of president of the Security Council in August 2008). He was also Vice President of the

United Nations General Assembly The United Nations General Assembly (UNGA or GA; french: link=no, Assemblée générale, AG) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), serving as the main deliberative, policymaking, and representative organ of the UN. Curr ...

and of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (Ecosoc). During his tenure in New York, he served as first chairman of the United Nations

Peacebuilding Commission The United Nations Peacebuilding Commission (PBC) is a United Nations intergovernmental advisory body of both the General Assembly and the Security Council that supports peace efforts in conflict affected countries. A key addition to the capacity ...

for the

Central African Republic The Central African Republic (CAR; ; , RCA; , or , ) is a landlocked country in Central Africa. It is bordered by Chad to the north, Sudan to the northeast, South Sudan to the southeast, the DR Congo to the south, the Republic of th ...

. From 2002 until 2008, Jan Grauls was Secretary General of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation. Before occupying this position, he was chief of staff to the Belgian Minister of Foreign Affairs and Director General for Bilateral and Economic Relations. From 1994 until 1997, Jan Grauls was deputy chief of staff and diplomatic advisor to HM the King. Jan Grauls served earlier in

Bonn The federal city of Bonn ( lat, Bonna) is a city on the banks of the Rhine in the German state of North Rhine-Westphalia, with a population of over 300,000. About south-southeast of Cologne, Bonn is in the southernmost part of the Rhine-Ruhr r ...

Tunis ''Tounsi'' french: Tunisois , population_note = , population_urban = , population_metro = 2658816 , population_density_km2 = , timezone1 = CET , utc_offset1 ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

Washington Washington commonly refers to: * Washington (state), United States * Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States ** A metonym for the federal government of the United States ** Washington metropolitan area, the metropolitan area centered on ...

and at the Belgian Permanent Representation to the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been des ...

. Since his retirement from the diplomatic service, baron Grauls became a member of the Board of the

Francqui Foundation The Francqui Foundation was founded in 1932 by Emile Francqui and Herbert Hoover with the goal "to further the development of higher education and scientific research in Belgium". The foundation is a private foundation under the legal form of a B ...

, the

Europalia Europalia is a major international arts festival held every two years to celebrate one invited country’s cultural heritage. Europalia was established in Brussels in 1969, and from the beginning Europalia was designed to be a multidisciplinary cu ...

International Arts Festival, the Belgo-British Conference and the Quartier des Arts Association (Brussels).

Personal life

Jan Grauls is married to Maria Gordts. They have four children, three daughters and one son.

References

1948 births Living people Permanent Representatives of Belgium to the United Nations Permanent Representatives of Belgium to the European Union {{Belgium-noble-stub