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The Embassy of the Czech Republic in Geneva |
Contact
Address
Permanent Mission of the Czech Republic to the United Nations Office and other international organizations in Geneva
Chemin Camille Vidart 17
1211 Geneva 20
or
P.O. Box 109
1211 Geneva 20
Phone Number
+41 22 910 38 10
Website
http://www.mzv.cz/geneva
Email
geneva@mzv.gov.cz
The Ambassador
H.E. Mr. Karel Beran
Karel Beran, the new Permanent Representative of the Czech Republic to the United Nations Office at Geneva, presented his credentials to Tatiana Valovaya, Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva, on 9 June 2026. Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Beran served as a Member of the Chamber of Deputies of the Parliament of the Czech Republic from October 2025 to May 2026. Before that, he worked at the Department of the American States at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Czech Republic from 2020 to 2025.
Mr. Beran has held various positions throughout his career, including as Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Argentine Republic, the Republic of Paraguay and the Oriental Republic of Uruguay from 2016 to 2020. He was Director General of the Diplomatic Service of the Czech Republic from 2014 to 2016. He served as Ambassador of the Czech Republic to the Kingdom of Spain and the Principality of Andorra from 2009 to 2014, concurrently serving as Permanent Delegate of the Czech Republic to the United Nations World Tourism Organization.
Mr. Beran began his career in Czechia's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he held numerous positions from 1992 to 2004. During his career, he has received multiple decorations and distinctions, including the Order of Isabella the Catholic, by the King of Spain. He speaks five languages.
History
Czechoslovakia was one of the 51 original constituent member states of the United Nations; its representatives, including Foreign Minister Jan Masaryk, signed the UN Charter in San Francisco on 26 June 1945, and the country's membership formally took effect on 24 October 1945, when the Charter entered into force. Jan Papánek, Czechoslovakia's first Ambassador to the UN, was among the 14 people who helped draft the UN Charter. Czechoslovak diplomats went on to play visible roles at the UN through the Cold War, including then-Foreign Minister Jiří Hájek's address to the Security Council on 24 August 1968 protesting the Warsaw Pact invasion of Czechoslovakia. Upon the peaceful dissolution of the Czech and Slovak Federal Republic (effective 31 December 1992), neither successor state claimed sole continuity of the old seat; both the Czech Republic and Slovakia applied afresh and were unanimously admitted as separate, fully-fledged UN member states at the resumed 47th session of the General Assembly on 19 January 1993. Since then, Czechia has represented its interests at the UN through Permanent Missions in New York, Geneva, Vienna, and Nairobi, and, building on Czechoslovakia's earlier practice of contributing to UN observer missions (from 1989, in Angola and Namibia), has since 1993 provided more than 3,000 military and civilian personnel to over 30 UN peacekeeping missions.
Czechia is a member of the UN Human Rights Council (term running to 2027) and was among the states that formally supported the request for the Council's 37th Special Session, held on 7 February 2025, on the deteriorating human rights situation in eastern DRC. The Geneva mission is active across a range of the UN's Geneva-based bodies: its Permanent Representative addressed the 116th Session of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) Council on 8–10 December 2025, and the mission hosted a visit by Deputy Foreign Minister Marie Chatardová in February 2026, who met with the leadership of several international organizations and delivered Czechia's national statement during the High-Level Segment of the Human Rights Council's 61st session. The mission also maintains a regular public program of engagement, including hosting an annual charity bazaar organized by the United Nations Women's Association at the Palais des Nations.
