The Permanent Representative
Yoka M.G. Brandt is the Permanent Representative of the Netherlands to the United Nations in New York, and presented her credentials to the Chief of Protocol of the United Nations Ms. Beatrix Kania on September 2nd, 2020.
Before her latest appointment, Ms. Brandt was Secretary-General of her country’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs beginning in 2016, having previously served as Deputy Executive Director for Partnerships at the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 2012 to 2016.
At the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she was Director-General for International Cooperation from 2008 to 2012, having served as Deputy Director‑General for International Cooperation from 2007 to 2008.
She was Ambassador to Uganda from 2004 to 2007 and Ambassador to Eritrea from 2000 to 2004. She also held various positions with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Hague and at missions from 1985 to 2000.
Ms. Brandt earned a master’s degree in geography and development economics at Utrecht University from 1976 to 1983.
The Deputy Permanent Representative
Mark Zellenrath serves as Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the UN in New York since December 2019.
Before he was the deputy director for the Middle East and North Africa Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he also headed the Mashreq- and Gulf-divisions. Prior to this, he was head of the Western Europe, Western Balkans and Turkey division at the Europe Department. Other responsibilities in the Ministry included work on Russia, Ukraine, the Visegrad countries, Afghanistan, European external policy, UN affairs and assistant to the political director. He was posted in Kabul and New York and was political advisor to the Dutch police training mission in Kunduz, Afghanistan. Mark studied public administration at the Erasmus University in Rotterdam and is an alumni of the Georgetown Leadership Seminar. He is married to Alexandra and has three daughters, Sophie, Julie and Chloë.