Angela King of Jamaica was an international gender equality expert and an outstanding advocate, adviser and lecturer on a range of issues, especially those relating to the significance and impact of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women (CEDAW), and of the Beijing Platform for Action and on gender equality. She was particularly interested in mentoring younger women and in strategizing to achieve positive outcomes and decisions on moving gender equality forward.

Angela served as United Nations Special Adviser to the UN Secretary-General on Gender Issues and Advancement of Women from 1997-2004. In this capacity she directed the UN’s programme for the advancement of women and their human rights and chaired the Inter-Agency Network on Women and Gender Equality (IANWGE) comprising 60 UN agencies and entities, primarily to promote the integration of gender perspectives in all aspects of the UN’s work. She has had a long and active record in promoting the advancement of women both globally and within the Organization. In the face of the traditional view that suitable women candidates could not be found for senior posts at the UN, her successful encouragement of women to apply led to several high-level appointments.

Angela joined the UN Secretariat in 1966 from the Permanent Mission of Jamaica to the UN where she worked on human rights and social development issues. Some of her other UN positions included Director of Recruitment, Deputy to the Head of Human Resources Development and Chief of the Central Programme Evaluation Unit. In the areas of women’s advancement, she attended three international conferences on women, Mexico (1975), Copenhagen (1980) and Beijing (1995). She was responsible for organizing the Special Session of the General Assembly to assess the impact of the Beijing conference,” Beijing+5, Gender Equality, Development and Peace for the Twenty-first Century”, held in New York in 2000.

Among her most challenging assignments of her career, Angela cites her role from 1992-1994 as Chief of the UN Observer Mission in South Africa (UNOMSA), focusing on preventive diplomacy through the resumption of constitutional negotiations between the parties, the reduction of violence and the peaceful holding of democratic, non-racial elections in 1994. Another was in 1997, when at the request of Secretary-General Kofi Annan, she led the United Nations interagency mission on the situation of women to Afghanistan under the Taliban.

Angela’s diplomacy and advocacy with the Security Council, in collaboration with UN entities and with non-governmental organizations, led to the adoption of the Council’s landmark resolution 1325 (2000), Women, Peace and Security. This marked the Council’s first acknowledgement of women’s essential role in peace building, peace making and peace negotiations.

Angela attended St. Hilda’s Diocesan High School in Jamaica, has a BA (Hons.) History from the University of the West Indies, an MA in Educational Sociology and Administration from the University of London and further doctoral studies at New York University. She has written and published a number of articles on various aspects of the situation of women globally and on the peace process in South Africa. One such was a chapter on “Gender Equality and the United Nations” for a book to be published in 2005 celebrating the 100th anniversary of Dag Hammarskjold’s birth

In November 1999, Angela received an Honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of the West Indies. In 2001, she also received the from the NGO Committee on the Status of Women the first Woman of Merit Award for meritorious service and exceptional contribution to the promotion of women in the UN international Community and the World. In the same year the Government of Jamaica conferred the Commander of Distinction Award. In 2004, she received the first Anglican UN Observer Award for Global Service from the Most Rev. and Rt. Hon. Dr. Rowan D. Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury.

Angela passed way on 5 February 2007.