NEW PERMANENT REPRESENTATIVE OF TUNISIA PRESENTS CREDENTIALS

Abderrazak Kilani, the new Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his credentials to Michael Möller, the Acting Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

A former Minister in charge of relations with the National Constituent Assembly of Tunisia,
Mr. Kilani’s career has mainly been as a lawyer. He was elected Dean of the National Order of Lawyers of Tunisia in June 2010, a position he held for over a year, during which time he participated in the promulgation of a new law on the legal profession in Tunisia. He participated in the fight for democracy under the former regime and was a member of the National Committee supporting the Tunisian League for the Protection of Human Rights (2006-2007). In 2011, he received the European Bar Council’s human rights prize on behalf of the Bar of Tunisia.

Mr. Kilani is one of the founders of the Tunisian Centre for the Independence of Justice and Lawyers, and served as its Secretary-General. On the international scene, Mr. Kilani has been a member of numerous international lawyer delegations, and participated in a number of events concerning the embargo on Iraq. He led the first delegation of Arab Lawyers in support of the Iraqi people in April 1991. He also participated in a process held in New York in 1992 to look into war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by the Government of the United States against Iraq during the second Gulf war.

Mr. Kilani studied at two institutions in France; he gained a higher degree in private law and the judiciary from the University of Grenoble in 1978, followed by a higher degree in specialized assurances from the University of Lyon in 1979. He was born on 25 June 1954 in Tunis and is married with three sons.


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CR13/034E