On the 23rd of January 2019, H.E. Ambassador Laura Dupuy Lasserre presented to His Majesty the King Willem-Alexander the Letter of Credence accrediting her as Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of Uruguay to the Kingdom of Netherlands. She is a career diplomat and has been promoted in the Foreign Service through successive opposition and merit exams.
Ambassador Dupuy has a degree in International Relations from the University of the Oriental Republic of Uruguay (1986-1990), as well as a legal studies degree from the same university. She is fluent in Spanish (her native language), and has taken advanced courses in French and English, being fluent in both these languages as well. She has also taken a basic course in Portuguese.
On February 5, 2019, she presented credentials to the Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons, H.E. Mr Fernando Arias, accrediting her as Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the OPCW. Ambassador Dupuy was also Vice President of the 24th Conference of the States Parties from 2019 to 2020, and the co-facilitator on governance issues from 2020 to 2021.
Before this, Ambassador Dupuy was the Director General of Technical and Administrative Affairs at the Ministry of Foreign Relations of Uruguay, from March 2nd, 2015, to April 3rd, 2017, and responsible for information security as well as the MFR Representative at the National Council on Gender.
To add, she co-chaired the Global LGBTI Human Rights Conference in Montevideo, Uruguay, from the 13th to the 16th of July 2016. The conference focused on non-violence, non-discrimination, and social inclusion. This conference was co-organized by Uruguay and the Kingdom of the Netherlands. Ambassador Dupuy participated in several other seminars and conferences this same year, including involvement in the first meeting of the Equal Rights Coalition at The Hague, Netherlands in November 2016.
Ambassador Dupuy was President of the United Nations Humans Rights Council from June 2011 to December 2012, having been nominated by the GRULAC, as the first woman to serve this position. Ambassador Dupuy has also held the position of Permanent Representative of Uruguay to the Office of the United Nations and other Specialized Organizations from October 2009 to October 2014.
She was also President-Rapporteur of the Social Forum 2010 of the United Nations Human Rights Council: “Climate Change and Human Rights,” in Geneva, Switzerland from October 4th to October 6th in 2010, as well as the Vice President at the Bureau of the Basel Convention on the control of trans-boundary movements of hazardous wastes and their disposal from 2013 to 2015.
Ambassador Dupuy has served a multitude of other positions, including Director of Environment at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uruguay, Director of Human Rights and Humanitarian Law, Director for the Americas, as well as Alternate Representative to the Organization of American States and much more.
In addition, she also has experience working in the private sector, focusing on administration, and accounting and has given academic conferences and published articles on human rights. Among these articles, include the article “The Universal Declaration on Human Rights and The Contribution by Uruguay, in its 60th Anniversary,” published in the Foreign Policy magazine of the Foreign Service Association for the 2008/2009 edition and an article titled “Personal Commitment to Human Rights and Political Will to Think Creatively, Key to Successful HRC Presidency,” for HRC Monitor magazine, special edition for the tenth anniversary of the United Nations Human Rights Council in 2016.
Ambassador Dupuy was born in Montevideo, Uruguay, is married and has one son.
