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Christina Markus Lassen

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Her Excellency
Christina Markus Lassen
R.
Christina Markus Lassen in 2021
Permanent Representative of Denmark to the United Nations
Incumbent
Assumed office
1 September 2023
Monarchs
Prime MinisterMette Frederiksen
Preceded byMartin Bille Hermann
Ambassador of Denmark to the United States
In office
1 September 2022 – 1 September 2023
MonarchMargrethe II
Prime MinisterMette Frederiksen
Preceded byLone Dencker Wisborg
Succeeded byJesper Møller Sørensen
Personal details
Born (1970-12-17) 17 December 1970 (age 54)
Copenhagen, Denmark
Residence(s)New York City, United States
Alma materCopenhagen Business School
Sorbonne University
American University
Harvard University

Christina Markus Lassen R. (born 17 December 1970) is a Danish diplomat, who has served as the Permanent representative of Denmark to the United Nations since 2023. She previously served as Ambassador of Denmark to the United States and as Under Secretary of State for Foreign Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

In her current position as UN Ambassador in New York, Lassen is responsible for working in partnership with Denmark's special representative, Holger K. Nielsen, to advance Denmark's candidacy for a seat in the UN Security Council for the period 2025-2026. Prior to her current appointment, Lassen held diplomatic roles, including Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Lebanon, and Danish Ambassador to Syria and Jordan, during a period of regional instability, including the Arab Spring and specifically the Syrian revolution in 2011.

Early life and education

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Christina Markus Lassen was born on 17 December 1970 in Copenhagen, Denmark.[1]

In 1997, Lassen obtained a Master of Science in International relations and Business from Copenhagen Business School. In 1993, during her master's programme, she studied foreign policy at American University in Washington, D.C.[2][3]

In 2012–13, she did a fellowship at the Weatherhead Center for International Affairs, Harvard University, conducting research on the Arab uprisings, and their implications and consequences for relations between the Arab world and the EU/US.[4]

Diplomatic career

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Lassen began her career at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Copenhagen in 1997 as Head of Section, before becoming First Secretary in the Political Department at the Danish Embassy in Washington, D.C., from 2000 to 2004, a post she held during the September 11 terrorist attacks.[5] She was afterwards Special Advisor to the Prime Minister's Office for Middle Eastern and Transatlantic Affairs. In 2005, she became the Head of the Executive Secretariat of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.[2][6]

In September 2009, Lassen assumed her first ambassadorial appointment, concurrently representing Denmark in both Syria and Jordan, from the Danish Embassy in Damascus. At the age of 38, she became the youngest woman to hold such a position in the history of the Danish Foreign Service.[7] During the Syrian revolution, she corresponded tightly with ambassadors Robert Ford from the US, Éric Chevallier [fr] from France and Simon Collins from the UK, forming a unified 'Western' approach.[8] She, and her embassy staff, had an "excellent network of contacts", that the Americans relied on.[9]

In a 2020 interview with Berlingske, she reflected on her work, stating, "Since 11 September, I have spent much of my energy trying to understand what it is that separates us - what went wrong between the West and the Middle East". Her time as Ambassador to Syria was marked by the onset of the civil war in the country. She described her personal connection to the conflict, saying, "The war in Syria is very personal for me. Seeing the regime's extremely brutal response to the initially peaceful demonstrations and how violent it all quickly turned was extremely depressing".[7]

She returned to Denmark in 2013 as the Director for Public Diplomacy and Communication at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, a position she held until 2014, where she became the Director for Stabilization and Security Policy from 2014 to 2015.[2][6]

Described as being part of the "younger generation of diplomats", Lassen's extensive tenure and positions within the Danish Foreign Service, has contributed to the Ministry's adaptation to a global agenda.[10]

Lassen was appointed Ambassador and Head of the EU Delegation to Lebanon in 2015. During this time, she was the Diplomat in Residence at the American University in Beirut, and Fellow of the Issam Fares Institute.[2] She attended the 2015 Bilderberg Conference as EU Ambassador to Lebanon.[11]

In 2019, she returned to Denmark as Political Director and Under Secretary of State for Foreign Policy at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, before becoming Ambassador of Denmark to the United States, in 2022.[12][13]

During the 2023 ambassadorial reshuffle, Lassen was appointed Permanent representative of Denmark to the United Nations, tasked with spearheading the Danish candidacy for a seat on the UN Security Council in 2025.[14][15] On 6 June 2024, Denmark was elected with 184 votes to the UN Security Council from the Western European and Others Group, and Lassen will thereby represent Denmark in the country's fifth turn in the Security Council for a two-year period from 2025-2026.[16][17]

Honours

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Lassen served as the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' Representative in the Danish Institute for International Studies (DIIS) and as a Member of the advisory board at the Danish Foreign Policy Society.[2]

National

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References

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  1. ^ "Altinget person — Christina Markus Lassen". www.altinget.dk. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  2. ^ a b c d e "European Conference | Christina Markus Lassen". euroconf.eu. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  3. ^ "Linkedin profile – Christina Markus Lassen". Linkedin.com. Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  4. ^ "The Middle East in Turmoil: The Syrian Revolution as Seen from Inside". cmes.fas.harvard.edu. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  5. ^ Fokus, Ritzau (2020-12-17). "Fylder 50 år". www.kendte.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  6. ^ a b "New Permanent Representative of Denmark Presents Credentials | UN Press". press.un.org. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  7. ^ a b "Vidne til verdens gode og dårlige sider | jv.dk". jv.dk (in Danish). 2020-12-17. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  8. ^ Phillips, Christopher (2020-07-01). The Battle for Syria: International Rivalry in the New Middle East. Yale University Press. p. 78. ISBN 978-0-300-24991-0.
  9. ^ Federspiel, Ulrik (2020-05-27). Et diplomatisk liv (in Danish). Gyldendal Business. ISBN 978-87-02-22803-8.
  10. ^ "Tunge diplomater flyttes rundt i verden". Finans (in Danish). 2014-10-28. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  11. ^ Zielinski, Aleksander M. "Bilderberg Participants Database for Publication". Retrieved 4 November 2023.
  12. ^ "Diplomatic representation in the US – 2022 World Factbook Archive". www.cia.gov. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  13. ^ "Danmarks nye ambassadør i USA møder sin amerikanske kollega". Berlingske.dk (in Danish). 2022-07-18. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  14. ^ "Ambassadørrokade: Holdet sat til EU-formandskab og medlemskab af Sikkerhedsrådet | Udenrigsministeriet". via.ritzau.dk (in Danish). Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  15. ^ "Dansk USA-ambassadør bliver FN-ambassadør | Nyheder". DR (in Danish). 2023-03-03. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
  16. ^ "Danmark er blevet stemt ind i FN's Sikkerhedsråd". DR (in Danish). 2024-06-06. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  17. ^ "Danmark med kurs mod prestigefyldt råd - TV 2". nyheder.tv2.dk (in Danish). 2024-06-06. Retrieved 2024-06-10.
  18. ^ "Modtagere af danske dekorationer". www.kongehuset.dk. Retrieved 2023-11-04.
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