Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo


Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo is a career diplomat. She is the Brazilian ambassador to the United Nations.

Life

Azevêdo was born in Alegre in 1957. She trained to be a diplomat at the Rio Branco Institute and she joined the diplomatic service in 1982 as a third secretary. She was promoted to second secreatry in 1986.
In 2001 she gained her doctorate from the Rio Branco Institute when she defended her thesis on
"The Precautionary Principle and the Agreement on the Application of WTO Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures - The Implications for the Agricultural Reform Process".
On the 14 September 2016 she was appointed her country's ambassador to the United Nations. She succeeded Regina Maria Cordeiro Dunlop who went on to be Brazil's Ambassador in The Hague.
On 15 March 2019 she walked out of a talk by popular gay politician Jean Wyllys in Geneva. She objected to Wyllys accusation that his friend the councilwoman Marielle Franco had been murdered by President Jair Bolsonaro's family. Two suspects had been arrested only days before.

Private life

Azevedo is married to Roberto Azevêdo. He has been the director general of the World Trade Organization since 2013. Azevêdo was elected to succeed Pascal Lamy as Director-General of the World Trade Organization in May 2013. They have two daughters, Paula and Luísa.