New team to ramp up bid for Security Council seat

Six young professionals have recently been added to the staff of the Permanent Mission of St Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG) to the United Nations (UN) as the country ramps up its campaign for a non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council.

The new staffers at the Mission, which is headed by Permanent Representative Inga Rhonda King, are Ellis Phillips, Jimesha Prince, Isis Gonsalves, Westford Joseph, Gareth Bynoe and Roxanne Russell.
Bynoe, Gonsalves and Prince have been appointed counsellors at the Mission, while Joseph is a political and economic attache and Phillips, a first secretary. Russell is an attache and the Ambassador’s assistant.

Bynoe, who holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and a post graduate diploma in diplomacy, is fluent in Spanish. The 34-year-old is at present the Counsellor at the Embassy of SVG to the United States in Washington D.C. He will take up the post in New York later this month and will be coordinator for sustainable development and a special adviser at the Mission.

Gonsalves is an attorney-at-law who worked as an adviser to the President of the United Nations General Assembly in its 72nd session. She will be the political coordinator and the coordinator of the Security Council Team at the Mission.

Prince, also an attorney-at-law, was Crown Counsel 1 in the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions for over two years, prior to taking up the post as counsellor. She will be a special adviser on the Security Council Team.

The three new counsellors join counsellor Janeel Drayton, who took up her post in January, replacing Sehon Marshall who was recalled in November 2017. Drayton holds a bachelor’s degree in International Relations with minor in Criminology and Social Policy Administration and a master’s degree in Public Policy and Governance. She is the coordinator of the United Nations Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) presidency, to which Ambassador King was elected on July 26, 2018.

Marsena Ballantyne is the fifth counsellor. She supervises banking and accounts at the Mission.

The holder of a bachelor’s degree in International Relations and Economics, Westford Joseph is an attache and a special adviser to ECOSOC, while first secretary Ellis Phillips, who holds a bachelor of science degree in International Relations will be a special adviser on climate change. He is fluent in Russian.

The Ambassador’s assistant, Roxanne Russell, is the holder of a bachelor’s degree in tourism. She is fluent in Spanish.

There are three other members of staff at the Mission. Nedra Miguel is the deputy permanent representative and minister counsellor. She has recently been upgraded to ambassador status, the Prime Minister said. Jodine Jackson, who holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and psychology is the general administrative assistant, while Nathaniel Alexander is the ambassador’s driver.
The Prime Minister, at a press conference on Tuesday said some persons on the staff at the Mission are there to help with the more detailed administration while others will help with legal work and international relations among other things.

“They are children of the Education Revolution who are really, really bright young people who are given, who are getting opportunities.

Two of the new staffers, Isis Gonsalves and Jimesha Prince, are the daughters of members of the Cabinet. Isis is the first daughter of Prime Minister Dr Ralph Gonsalves and his wife Eloise, while Jimesha is the daughter of Minister of Education St Clair Prince and his wife Naomi.

“And I know when I talk about bright young and my daughter is among them, they would say, well, boy, Ralph is tooting her horn, but she has demonstrated in her work from secondary school going onwards…” the Prime Minister said.

Elections for the non-permanent seat on the UN Security Council will be held in June 2019 and the two-year term will be from 2020 to 2021.