Katalin Bogyay

In 1999 she became a diplomat and began working for the Hungarian Ministry for Culture.[6] As Director General she opened the Hungarian Cultural Centre in 1999 in the heart of London's Covent Garden. She was the director of the Centre until 2006. To mark Hungary's entry to the EU in 2004, Bogyay created Magyar Magic, a seventeen-month long festival celebrating Hungarian talent throughout Britain under the dual patronage of Queen Elizabeth II and H.E. Dr. Ferenc Mádl, the President of the Republic of Hungary.[7]

In 2007 Bogyay was selected by the London School of Economics as one of the Top 50 thinkers in the publication EU The Next Fifty Years. In her invited editorial she wrote about the new European cultural space.[8]

In 2007 she represented Eastern, Central and Southern Europe as one of the deputy chairpersons of the Cultural Committee at the UNESCO's General Conference. Between July 2006 and April 2009, she served as the State Secretary for International Affairs at the Hungarian Ministry of Education and Culture. Since September 2009 until December 2014 she was based in Paris as Hungary's Ambassador to UNESCO. In 2009 she served as one of the vice presidents of the 35th General Conference of the UNESCO.[9]

On 5 October 2011 UNESCO's Executive Board unanimously proposed Bogyay as President of UNESCO's 36th General Conference. On 25 October 2011, the General Conference of unanimously elected Bogyay as President of UNESCO's 36th General Conference. She succeeded Davidson L. Hepburn (Commonwealth of The Bahamas) who presided the 35th session. On 5 November 2013 the General Conference elected Hao Ping, the Vice-Minister of Education of China as President of UNESCO's 37th General Conference.[10]

She was appointed Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Hungary to the UN in New York and took office as head of the Hungarian Mission to the UN in New York on 1 January 2015.

She chaired the United Nations Committee on Conferences in 2016-2017.[11] The Conference Committee decides upon the yearly Calendar of Conferences of all UN duty stations, ensures that conference services, translation and interpretation work smoothly during all UN meetings.[12]

In January 2017, the President of the General Assembly appointed Tajikistan and Hungary, H.E. Ms Katalin Bogyay, Permanent Representative to the UN as Co-Moderators of the working-level dialogue to discuss improving the integration and coordination of the work of the United Nations on the water-related Sustainable Development (SDG) goals and targets, as well as a subsequent dialogue to take stock of progress made and exchange views on possible next steps.[13] The activities of the mission can be reached at https://un-newyork.mfa.gov.hu/.

In 2018, the Executive Board of the International Association of Permanent Representatives (IAPR) to the United Nations elected Ambassador Katalin Bogyay as their new president. The Association serves as a forum between former and active Permanent Representatives.[14][15][16]

She is a vocal advocate of women’s empowerment, a Gender Champion [17][18] and started a thematic meeting series of the Circle of Women Ambassador in the UN to cover issues such as implementation of the SDGs or preventive diplomacy. [19] In 2019, she served as the Vice President of the UN Women Executive Board, a global entity dedicated to gender equality and the empowerment of women.[20] Ambassador Bogyay hosts a salon series to build bridges between the UN and the city of New York through cultural diplomacy, art, music and poetry.[21]

Ambassador Katalin Annamária Bogyay has been appointed by María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés, President of the 73rd Session of United Nations General Assembly with Ambassador Vitavas Srivihok, Permanent Representative of Thailand to the United Nations to co-facilitate the negotiations of Universal Health Coverage political declaration for the high-level meeting on Universal Health Coverage during the 74th Session of the United Nations General Debate in 2019. [22] [23] [24]

Katalin Bogyay was appointed to the ‘Nelson Mandela Prize 2020’ Selection Committee. The prize is awarded every 5 years to those who dedicated their lives to the service of humanity in the promotion of reconciliation, social cohesion, and community development.[25]

In June 2020, Ambassador Katalin Annamária Bogyay, Permanent Representative of Hungary, has been elected unanimously by 193 Member States as Chair of the Committee of Social, Humanitarian & Cultural Issues (Third Main Committee) for the 75th Session of the UN General Assembly (2020-2021). Examination of human rights questions is at the forefront of the Committee’s activity, while it also discusses questions relating to the advancement of women, the protection of children, indigenous issues, the promotion of fundamental freedoms through the elimination of racism and racial discrimination, and the right to self-determination, intercultural and interfaith dialogue. The Committee also addresses important social development questions such as issues related to youth, family, ageing, persons with disabilities, crime prevention, criminal justice, and international drug control. The Committee will hear and interact with special rapporteurs, independent experts, and chairs of working groups as mandated by the Human Rights Council. H.E. Katalin Annamária Bogyay will also be member of the General Committee of the 75th UN General Assembly.[26][27]

After the crush of the 1956 revolution, since the Security Council was unable to act, it was the General Assembly that adopted a number of resolutions on the matter and established the so-called Special Committee on the Problem of Hungary.[28]

The UN Archives keeps numerous documents concerning the 1956 Revolution and the following events. In 2016 Ambassador Bogyay, with the support of the Hungarian Government, requested to open and declassify the previously classified documents after 60 years for research purposes. The UN Secretariat opened up more than 400 pages of previously classified documents for research purposes. Moreover, more than 1000 pages of UN documents kept at Columbia University have also been declassified, and are therefore available for public research.[29]

Ambassador Bogyay hosted a series of events, including a roundtable discussion on the “1956 Hungarian Revolution and the 20th Century Democratization Processes" as well as a historic panel discussion to honor the memory of Povl Bang-Jensen.Under her leadership, Hungary, for the first time, co-hosted the UN Day Gala Concert, that marks the birth of the United Nations in 1945 through the universal language of music. The theme of this year’s concert was “Freedom First”.[30] The Permanent Mission of Hungary to the United Nations and iASK Institute of Advance Studies Kőszeg published book A CRY FOR FREEDOM: Reflections on the 1956 Hungarian Revolution at the UN and Beyond by Ambassador Bogyay as well as created Statues of Remembrance by Hedva Ser, UNESCO Goodwill Ambassador és Special Envoy for Cultural Diplomacy, based on the concept of the Ambassador.[31]