Personal Representatives of the Chairperson-in-Office to promote greater tolerance and combat racism, xenophobia and discrimination

Rabbi Andrew Baker
Personal Representative on Combating Anti-Semitism

Rabbi Andrew Baker is director of International Jewish Affairs at the American Jewish Committee (AJC), which he joined in 1979. A leading expert on anti-Semitism in Europe, he travels extensively to strengthen relations between the AJC and Jewish communities worldwide. Throughout most of the 1990s, as director of European Affairs, Rabbi Baker promoted tolerance in the emerging democracies of Central and Eastern Europe. He is active in Holocaust restitution issues and in 2003 was awarded the Officer's Cross of the Order of Merit by Germany for his work in German-Jewish relations.

Sen. Adil Akhmetov
Personal Representative on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims

Following a decision by the Chairperson-in-Office, Ambassador Adil Akhmetov of Kazakhstan was appointed as Personal Representative on Combating Intolerance and Discrimination against Muslims in April 2009. Ambassador Akhmetov is Secretary of the Committee on International Relations, Defence and Security, and a Member of the Senate of the Parliament of Kazakhstan. His previous positions include First Vice-Minister of Foreign Affairs, Chairman of the Committee on Education of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Healthcare, and Envoy Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Kazakhstan to the UK.

Judge Catherine McGuinness
Personal Representative on Combating Racism, Xenophobia and Discrimination, also focusing on Intolerance and Discrimination against Christians and Members of Other Religions

Justice McGuinness is a retired judge of the Supreme Court of Ireland, on which she served from 2000 to 2006, having served previously as a judge on the High Court and the Circuit Court.  In January 2012, she was appointed as a member of the Council of State, and she is also currently Adjunct Professor of Law at the National University of Ireland, Galway.  She served inter alia as President of the Law Reform Commission from 2005 to 2011, and as Chairperson of the Employment Equality Agency from 1987 to 1992, and was elected to Seanad Éireann, the upper house of the Irish Parliament between 1979 and 1987.  She has served in an advisory capacity to the General Synod of the Church of Ireland, part of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and is also an honorary patron of the Holocaust Education Trust of Ireland.