Why Small-State Diplomacy Matters & The UN’s Role in International Conflict

For our first Policy & Practice seminar of academic year 2024-2025 we are joined by Ambassador Simona Leskovar. The Ambassador will talk about her own experience both in trying to get Slovenia elected to the UN Security Council, but also more broadly about her experience in the UK and within the UN. The talk will include a discussion as to why small states matter in international security. We are delighted that Sir Mark Lyall Grant GCMG will join us to give a response.

There will be a drinks reception after the seminar. All attendees are welcome to join.

Ambassador Simona Leskovar: Simona Leskovar is Ambassador of the Republic of Slovenia to the Court of St James's until August 2024. Prior to this appointment, she was State Secretary at the Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs of the Republic of Slovenia.
Ambassador Leskovar is a career diplomat for 28 years of service in Slovenian diplomacy. She served as Slovenian Ambassador to Japan and Republic of Korea, was Deputy Permanent Representative of Slovenia at Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the United Nations in New York and member or head of several Slovenian delegations and missions to various conferences and events within the UN. Her first post as a diplomat was Washington DC.
Ambassador Leskovar holds a position of the EU adviser to Slovenian Foreign Minister during the first Slovenian EU presidency in 2008. She was later Director of Young Bled Strategic Forum and the national Focal Point for Responsibility-to-Protect.
Simona Leskovar studied international relations at the Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Ljubljana, and at the Netherlands Institute of International Relations Clingendael in The Hague. Ambassador Leskovar initiated the MFA programme 'Young Ambassadors', a mentoring project that was organized together with foreign female Ambassadors in Slovenia, and aimed at encouraging young women to consider a career in diplomacy and international relations.
Ambassador Leskovar was appointed Program Director of Bled Strategic Forum at the end of August 2024.

Chair: Prof. Veronika Fikfak

This event will be recorded and the video will be uploaded to our YouTube channel.

You can subscribe to our YouTube channel to be alerted when the recording is uploaded.

Seats are allocated on a first come, first served basis. We usually have spare seats (even for sold out events) so if you miss out on a ticket please feel free to come along anyway. We cannot guarantee you a seat, but it is very unusual that we have to turn someone away.

The location and accessibility info will be announced soon. Wherever possible we aim to ensure step-free access at the very least. If you have accessibility needs, please let us know and we will do our best to help.

Image of Simona Leskovar from https://www.flickr.com/photos/unisgeneva/46494815244/

Host or Publisher UCL Department of Political Science