The world's youngest diplomat

There have been some pretty impressive young diplomats over the years. An American schoolgirl named Samantha Smith was just ten when she wrote to President Andropov asking if he was planning to go to war with America. Andropov replied to Samantha's letter, which was published in Pravda, and invited her to visit the Soviet Union - an invitation she accepted, becoming America's youngest goodwill ambassador. (Smith later wrote a book about her 'Journey to the Soviet Union', visited Japan to meet Prime Minister Yasuhiro Nakasone and speak at a the Children's International Symposium in Kobe (where she argued that Soviet and American leaders should exchange grand-daughters for two weeks every year), and went to Washington to interview candidates for the 1984 Presidential election. Tragically, Smith died in a plane crash in 1985, when she was just 13). Following in Smith's footsteps, Eleven year-old Katya Lycheva became a Soviet 'child-ambassador' when she visited the US in 1986, meeting various dignitaries, including President Reagan. 

The youngest ambassador in Washington in recent times was a 32 year old Macedonian named Nikola Dimitrov who served as Ambassador to the US from 2001-2006 before being appointed as the Macedonian Ambassador to the Netherlands, and then as Macedonia's Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons. (No offence to the Dutch and the OPCW, but that sounds like a downward career trajectory to me - just shows the pitfalls of peaking too early).

There was much media interest in 2009 when President Obama appointed whippersnapper Susan Rice as the US Permanent Representative to the United Nations. At 44, she was the second-youngest person to hold the office (the youngest having been Donald McHenry, appointed at age 42, who served as the US Perm Rep from September 1979 until January 20, 1981). However, the record for the youngest diplomat ever to grace the UN stage has just been taken by a little-known Brit by the name of Alex Shercliff. 

Shercliff, aged 11 months, took his seat in the General Assembly today and delivered prepared remarks on a variety of topics ranging from nuclear disarmament to the cost of diapers. He also made a brief appearance in the Security Council where, supported by his mother and standing in for the British Permanent Representative, Sir Mark Lyall Grant, in his capacity as President of the Council, Shercliff reaffirmed the Council's strong commitment to the sovereignty, independence, peace and stability of Sudan. Shercliff then chaired brief discussions on the recent elections in the Cote D'Ivoire, current unrest in Guinea-Bissau and the situation in Somalia.

At a press conference after a busy day of meetings Shercliff was asked what he enjoyed most about the new job. 'Sitting next to the delegation from the United Republic of Tanzania in the General Assembly' was his reply. 'It gives me a chance to practise my Ki-Swahili'.

Shercliff's closest competition for the title of 'world's youngest diplomat' appears to come from a baby giant panda but the Brit remains confident that Tai Shan (known to his friends as 'Butterstick') is ineligible to present credentials at the U.N., which does not currently recognise animals of any description. The two young diplomats have met just once, in January 2010. Shortly after their  private meeting, held at the National Zoo in Washington DC, Tai Shan's diplomatic career came to a sudden halt. Shercliff refused to comment on the incident, which has earned him a fearsome reputation in international circles, but it appears to have been no coincidence that, just days after their meeting, the panda's visa was revoked by the American authorities and he returned to China in February 2010. Shercliff's career, meanwhile, appears to be very much in the ascendancy. Judging from today's debut performance, a long and glittering future awaits Ambassador Alex.

Comments

[The lowly 1st Secretary Alex]

Ambassador Alex may want to check the Diplomatic Service Handbook, where he will find that the British term for his underwear is actually nappy, not diaper. He may actually have caused a diplomatic incident, and we will be demarching the UN on Monday morning.

[CHERET]

Allez Alex !!