Jorge Urbina (born May 2, 1946) was the
Permanent Representative 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 ...
for
Costa Rica
Costa Rica (, ; ; literally "Rich Coast"), officially the Republic of Costa Rica ( es, República de Costa Rica), is a country in the Central American region of North America, bordered by Nicaragua to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the no ...
. He assumed the position in October 2006.
Education
Urbina received a master in law degree from the
University of Costa Rica
The University of Costa Rica (Spanish: ''Universidad de Costa Rica,'' abbreviated UCR) is a public university in the Republic of Costa Rica, in Central America. Its main campus, Ciudad Universitaria Rodrigo Facio, is located in San Pedro Mo ...
and a doctorate in law from the
University of Bordeaux.
Career
From 1982 to 1984, Urbina was the Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations for Costa Rica. After this appointment, he was Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs for two years from 1984 to 1986. In 1986, Urban then moved to the position of the Executive President of the National Institute for Municipal Counselling and Promotion until 1990; he also served as Costa Rica's Minister of Information from 1989 to 1990.
From 1990 to 1993, Urbina was an Associate Researcher at Centro de Investigaciones Económicas y Sociales in Montes de Oca, Costa Rica, and also was a professor at the International Affairs School of Universidad Nacional in Heredia, Costa Rica, for the same period. After that, he served as a permanent consultant at the Programme for Democratic Governance in Central America, United Nations Development from 1993 to 1998.
Until he was appointed Permanent Representative to the United Nations, Mr. Urbina was a Programme Coordinator at the International Centre for Human Development, San José, Costa Rica, from 1998 to 2006.
Mission work
On 11 March 2009, H.E. Jorge Urbina led a four-day
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 ...
fact finding mission to
Haiti
Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...
to assess the impact of aide provided to the country through
UN Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH) and the
UN Development Programme
The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human deve ...
(UNDP). In his later report to the UN, he stated, "It was evident to the mission that the current levels of
extreme poverty
Extreme poverty, deep poverty, abject poverty, absolute poverty, destitution, or penury, is the most severe type of poverty, defined by the United Nations (UN) as "a condition characterized by severe deprivation of basic human needs, includi ...
, in which 80 per cent of the people live on under two dollars a day and 50 per cent on under one dollar are incompatible with the goal to establish stability in the short term."
Haiti: UN Council mission reports strides in security, worrisome poverty
UN News Service, retrieved 8 May 2009
See also
* List of current permanent representatives to the United Nations
References
*
United Nations Press Release: Biography of Jorge Urbina
1946 births
Living people
Costa Rican diplomats
Permanent Representatives of Costa Rica to the United Nations
Government ministers of Costa Rica
{{CostaRica-diplomat-stub