Dr. Abdul Aziz Al-Wasel has been ambassador of Saudi Arabia at the European headquarters of the UN in Geneva since 2016.
At the 39th Session of the Human Rights Council in Geneva, Al-Wasel confirmed Saudi Arabia’s efforts in supporting the International Commission of Inquiry on Syria.
He expressed his gratitude for the efforts of the commission to report the latest developments of the dire human rights situation in Syria, as well as the suffering of the Syrian people who have been forced to flee their homes by the Syrian regime and pro-Damascus militias.
He pointed out that the report exposed an unprecedented development and acceleration of events throughout various troubled regions in Syria, emphasizing that the growing numbers of more than a million Syrian refugees were evidence of the Syrian regime’s continued attempts to displace its people.
Al-Wasel holds a doctorate in political science and international relations. He served as a professor at the King Abdul Aziz Military Academy and at Marshall University in Virginia.
Al-Wasel joined the diplomatic service in 1999, working in the human rights office in the department of international organizations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He then worked at the Saudi Embassy in Australia from 2001 to 2007.
Before taking up his post as ambassador to Saudi Arabia in the UN in 2016, Al-Wasel served as the Kingdom’s deputy ambassador to the UK from 2013 for three years. Before that, he served for five years as head of the human rights office of the Saudi delegation to the UN in Geneva.
