About Us
About the Ambassador
Lotte Knudsen was previously the Managing Director in the European Union’s External Action service, in charge of global and multilateral issues, as well as human rights. She also served in the European Commission in a number of different posts. She was in charge of developing international relations in DG Justice and Home Affairs, before becoming Director, first on Security, including counter-terrorism issues; then on Justice issues, including legislative negotiations, in DG Justice; and in DG development dealing with thematic issues from migration, to health and human development. Earlier she also worked in the Relex DGs on EU/US relations and the EU Accession negotiations; in the Commission Secretariat General as well as in the Foreign Office in London, on a two-year secondment. She studied at the Ecole National d’Administration in Paris and the College of Europe in Bruges.
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Ambassador Lotte Knudsen
Welcome to the website of the EU Delegation to the UN Geneva!
Multilateralism matters because it works
As demonstrated by the outbreak of COVID-19, multilateral cooperation is more necessary than ever. Therefore, the rules-based international order – with the UN at its core – must be upheld and international solidarity and cooperation strengthened.
At a time of growing scepticism, we must demonstrate the benefit and relevance of the multilateral system.
The EU has been and will continue to be the best ally of multilateralism and its institutions. However, the more complex global environment calls us to be more united, coherent, focused, and better leverage our collective Team Europe strength.
The EU has defined clear strategic priorities on issues that no country can face alone: peace and security, human rights and the rule of law, sustainable development, public health, or climate. Now, we need to advance these priorities multilaterally in a strategic approach to ensure a safer world and a sustainable, inclusive global recovery.
And the challenges in today’s increasingly volatile and unpredictable world are numerous, complex, on many fronts and often across borders. They demand that we work together. They need a global and integrated approach. They need us to stand behind the UN, to broaden cooperation and to build new cross-regional alliances in support of multilateralism. The key word is “effective multilateralism”. That is what guides us here in Geneva.
To that end, the European Union will continue to engage actively on all multilateral fronts, in all pillars of the UN system: peace and security, human rights and development in order to help furthering multilateral solutions to the challenges that we all face, especially here in Geneva in the fields of human rights, global health, humanitarian needs, refugee and migration issues, disarmament, international labour matters, economic and development issues, digital affairs and intellectual property.
The EU continues to strongly believe in the multilateral approach as the best chance to shape the future of the world in a way which is acceptable for all. We are and will remain a close partner of the United Nations.
I hope that you will find our website useful. If you have comments you can refer them by mail to: delegation-geneva-un@eeas.europa.eu.
Enjoy your visit!
Best,
Lotte Knudsen