Elinor Hammarskjöld
Elinor Jane Britt Hammarskjöld (born 4 November 1967)[1] is a Swedish lawyer and diplomat who has served as the United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel since 2025.[2]
Family and education
[edit]A member of the Hammarskjöld family, she was born in Rome, Italy,[1] in 1967 to the diplomat Peder Hammarskjöld (1923−1994) and Elizabeth Richardson (born 1928). Her grandfather, the diplomat Åke Hammarskjöld, was an older brother of the United Nations Secretary-General Dag Hammarskjöld, and her great-grandfather Hjalmar Hammarskjöld was Prime Minister of Sweden from 1914 to 1917.
Hammarskjöld studied French and literature at the University of Stockholm and later obtained Master's degrees in international law from the University of Uppsala and the University of Cambridge.[1][2]
Career
[edit]Hammarskjöld joined the Ministry for Foreign Affairs in 1994, serving in various capacities in Sweden and abroad, including as ambassador to Israel from 2010 to 2013.[1][2]
In 2025 she was appointed United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, succeeding Miguel de Serpa Soares of Portugal.[2][3]
References
[edit]- ^ a b c d Government of Sweden, Curriculum Vitae, Elinor Hammarskjöld. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d United Nations press release SG/A/2335, "Secretary-General Appoints Elinor Hammarskjöld of Sweden Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel", 23 December 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- ^ Stockholm Centre for International Law and Justice, "Elinor Hammarskjöld is the second Swedish lawyer appointed UN Legal Counsel", 3 February 2025. Retrieved 11 February 2025.
- 1967 births
- Living people
- Hammarskjöld family
- Stockholm University alumni
- Uppsala University alumni
- Alumni of the University of Cambridge
- Swedish women ambassadors
- Swedish women lawyers
- Ambassadors of Sweden to Israel
- 21st-century Swedish diplomats
- Under-Secretaries-General of the United Nations
- Swedish officials of the United Nations