Officers

Ambassador Maritza Chan is a Costa Rican career diplomat, academic, and activist. She was appointed Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations on 15 August 2022. Ambassador Maritza Chan is the first Costa Rican woman to occupy the role since Costa Rica signed the UN Charter in 1945. Before her appointment, Ambassador Maritza Chan served as Deputy Permanent Representative of Costa Rica to the United Nations from March 2020 to August 14, 2022.

Ambassador Maritza Chan has twenty-five years of professional experience at the highest political level. She has represented Costa Rica before the United States and multilateral organizations in both Washington, D.C. and New York. She is an international peace and security expert and an advocate for the Women, Peace, and Security agenda.

In December 2023, Ambassador Chan was introduced as President-designate of the Fourth Review Conference of the United Nations Programme of Action to Prevent, Combat, and Eradicate the Illicit Trade of Small and Light Weapons in All Its Aspects (UNPoA) to be held in 2024. Ambassador Maritza Chan was Vice-Chair of the Open-Ended Working Group on Conventional Ammunition, which established a new global framework for the lifetime management of ammunition (2022-2023). She was Costa Rica's lead negotiator on the Arms Trade Treaty (2010-2015).