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The Embassy of New Zealand in Geneva |
Contact
Address
Permanent Mission of New Zealand to the United Nations Office and other international organization in Geneva
Chemin des Fins 2
1218 Grand-Saconnex
or
P.O. Box 334
1211 Geneva 19
Phone Number
+41 22 929 03 50
Fax Number
+41 22 929 03 74
Email
mission.nz@bluewin.ch
The Ambassador
Amb. Deborah Geels
H.E. Ms. Deborah Geels is a premier career diplomat with an outstanding track record of service spanning nearly four decades within New Zealand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade (MFAT). Widely respected for her masterful command of multilateral diplomacy, disarmament, and regional security, she assumed her strategic duties in Geneva with an elite professional reputation.
Before her high-profile ambassadorial deployment to Geneva, Ambassador Geels served at the highest echelons of the central ministry in Wellington, notably as the Deputy Secretary for Regional and Multilateral Affairs. Her extensive diplomatic record includes serving as New Zealand’s Ambassador to Austria and Permanent Representative to the United Nations Organizations in Vienna (including the IAEA and CTBTO). She has also held critical diplomatic postings in Beijing and Geneva earlier in her career. Known for her sophisticated negotiating skills and collaborative approach, she has been a leading voice in advancing New Zealand’s independent foreign policy, arms control frameworks, and Pacific-centered development agendas.
History
New Zealand’s presence in International Geneva is historically highly influential, proactive, and values-driven, leveraging its position as a principled middle power dedicated to the defense of a rules-based multilateral system.
The Permanent Mission in Geneva serves as New Zealand's primary engine inside the UN Human Rights Council, the World Trade Organization (WTO), the Conference on Disarmament, and major environmental and health bodies. Historically, New Zealand diplomacy in Geneva is a global vanguard in pioneering nuclear non-proliferation, fighting for agricultural trade liberalization within the WTO, and championing the rights of Indigenous Peoples globally. Under Ambassador Geels’s heavyweight leadership, the mission actively drives initiatives to eliminate harmful fisheries subsidies, advocates for the universal protection of human rights and gender equality, and plays a leading role in security dialogues focusing on conventional arms control, space security, and the regulation of autonomous weapons systems.
