Jan Kickert

Jan Kickert (born 19 September 1964) is an Austrian diplomat, currently serving as Austrian Ambassador in Rome.

Previously, he served as the Austrian Permanent Representative to the United Nations and political director at the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

He was born in Thailand, studied at the University of Vienna and the Diplomatic Academy of Vienna, and served in a variety of diplomatic and international positions in his early career.

Early life He was born in Bangkok, Thailand.

In October 2017 Kickert denounced as “wrong and unjustifiable” a possible move by the U.S. administration to “decertify” Iran's compliance with the Iran deal known as the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action.

In 2017-19 Kickert was Chairman of the United Nations Committee on Information, a subsidiary body of the United Nations General Assembly established to deal with questions relating to public information. The Committee oversees the work of the United Nations Department of Global Communications.

In October 2018, after the synagogue shooting at the Tree of Life – Or L'Simcha Congregation in Pittsburgh, Kickert addressed the Temple Israel congregation in New York City and said: "The attack on the Tree of Life Congregation was an attack on all of us, on what we stand for – religious liberty, human rights. We are committed to the safety and security of Jews wherever they are. I say this with growing up and living with the shame that my forefathers were among the worst perpetrators in Nazi times."

On 30 October 2018, the President of the UN General Assembly María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés informed UN Member States that Kickert and Doma Tsherin, Permanent Representative of Bhutan, would co-facilitate the intergovernmental negotiations related to the midterm review of the Vienna Declaration and Programme of Action implementation, with a view to producing a political declaration.