Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations , Chair of AOSIS
H.E Dr Walton a Webson, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, Permanent Representative of Antigua and Barbuda to the United Nations.
H.E. Dr. Walton Webson holds a Bachelor of Science degree, a Master of Science in Management of Non-Profit Organizations, a Post Graduate Diploma in Organizational Development from the New School for Social Research, and a DM in Management from Case Western Reserve University. He worked for several international nongovernment organizations including: Sight Savers International of the (UK), The Caribbean Council for the Blind, (Antigua and Barbuda), Hellen Keller International of New York and Perkins International where he worked from 1992 to 2014 and was the organization’s Chief Executive from 2011. Dr. Webson is an Antiguan diplomat. He has served as the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York of Antigua and Barbuda since 2014.
Since at the United Nations, Ambassador Webson served as President of UNICEF, 2017 and was Vice President of its Board in 2016. Ambassador Webson chaired the Special Committee on the Situation with regard to the Implementation of the Declaration on the Granting of Independence of Colonial Countries and Peoples also known as the Special Committee on decolonization or C-24 in 2018. He was appointed by the President 72nd session of the UN General Assembly to co-facilitate with the Ambassador of Japan the high-level meeting on tuberculosis which took place in September 2018 and was appointed by the President of the UN General Assembly in 2019 to be a co-facilitator on the Steering Committee on Accessibility and continues to chair that committee on the reappointment from the president of the 74th session of the General Assembly.
Ambassador Webson is an innovator and a leader. He founded the Friends of Vision at the United Nations; a group responsible for advocating for eye health to be included in universal health care. He was successful in getting eye health for the first time included in a UN resolution on UHC.
Ambassador Webson with the Ambassadors of Denmark and the UAE formed the informal group of the Presidents of the UN agencies to coordinate the work of the Funds and Programmes of the United Nation agencies.
He was the lead sponsor on two resolutions affecting the lives of persons with disabilities around the world and is considered as a champion on disabilities issues and a leading voice on issues of Small States.
Ambassador Webson served in 2020 as the President of the board of the United Nations Development Programmed (UNDP, UNOPS AND UNFPA). He is the current co-chair of the UN Steering Committee on the Small Islands Developing States (SIDS) and has had the honor to lead the CARICOM Caucus at two General Assemblies over his first four years at the UN.
In 2017, Ambassador Webson was the lead voice of the initiative for raising pledges in support of global response to the needs of the Caribbean to Hurricanes Irma and Maria. The UN sponsored activity attracted more than 2.1 billion dollars in pledges.
He continues to sit on several UN committees including committees responding to the challenges of COVID19.
Ambassador Webson led Antigua and Barbuda’s team on the negotiations on the resolutions of the SDGs 2015. He also led the Antigua and Barbuda’s team at the 2016 meeting on climate change and he has led several climate change meetings for Antigua and Barbuda since his appointment at the United Nations.
Ambassador Webson has spearheaded several initiatives on Antigua and Barbuda including: a para-transit programmed for persons with disability, the Antigua Barbuda Science Park, driving solar energy in support of the Department of Environment, the diaspora response to Hurricane Irma and Maria and support to areas of sports, education, gender issues and youth development.
Ambassador Webson is a published author and has recently contributed in The Lancet Global Health Commission on Global Eye Health: vision beyond 2020 and in the ICEVI journal 2021.
Ambassador Webson is married with three children.