History
History
The United Nations came into existence on 24 October 1945, and was headquartered in New York City in 1946. In the same year, the United Nations decided to establish their European headquarters in Geneva. The United Nations Office at Geneva is housed at the historic Palais des Nations, originally built for the League of Nations in the 1930s.
Various UN bodies - such as International Telecommunication Union (ITU), United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), World Health Organization (WHO), the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), World Trade Organization (WTO), World Meteorological Organization (WMO), World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) and International Labour Organization (ILO) – chose Geneva for their headquarters.
Along with 196 other countries, Malaysia is a state party to the four Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949 that form the basis of international humanitarian law (IHL). These international treaties lay at the core of international humanitarian law and protect those who are not taking part in the hostilities. Malaysia signed the Geneva Conventions in 1962.
Malaysia was an active member of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) during the periods 1993-1995, 1996-1998, 2001-2003 and 2005-2006 before the Commission was dissolved. Human Rights Council (HRC) was established in 2006 to replace the UNCHR.
Thereafter, Malaysia had served in the HRC twice from 2006-2009 and 2010-2013. Malaysia was elected to the HRC for the term 2022-2024 after elections held during the 76th Session of the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) in New York on 14 October 2021.
The Permanent Mission of Malaysia to the United Nations and Other International Organisations at Geneva was established in July 1968 with the first Permanent Representative, Mr. Peter Stephen Lai. Since its establishment, a total of 14 Permanent Representatives had served in the Mission, with the list as follows:
List of the Permanent Representatives in MW Geneva
- Mr. Peter Stephen Lai
- Mr. Ahmad Kamil Jaafar
- Mr. Ahmad Faizz Abdul Hamid
- Mr. Khor Eng Hee
- Dato’ Mohd Yusof Hitam
- Mr. Haron Siraj
- Mr. Hamidon Ali
- Datin Paduka Dr. Rajmah Hussain
- Dato’ Hsu King Bee
- Datuk Othman Hashim
- Dato’ Dr Mazlan Muhammad
- Dato’ Sri Amran Mohamed Zin
- Dato’ Dr. Ahmad Faisal Muhamad
- Dato' Nadzirah Osman (present)