Ambassador Curtis Anthony Ward is an Attorney-at-Law and international consultant specializing in security law and policy, security capacity building, geo-political security issues, security for development, and government relations. Ambassador Ward is currently on special assignment as Head of a Joint United Nations–ECOWAS Fact-Finding Mission in West Africa, based in Abuja, Nigeria. He was Senior Research Consultant to Security Council Report for three years, advising on Security Council subsidiary bodies. He also advised Haiti on port security laws and compliance with international maritime security conventions.
Ambassador Ward served as Expert Adviser to the UN Security Council Counter-Terrorism Committee (CTC) and CTC Liaison with Regional and International Organizations. He travelled extensively around the world as the CTC’s representative and lead advocate for implementing national and global counter-terrorism capacity-building measures. He led bilateral discussions with over 100 Ambassadors and other country Representatives at the UN to advise on implementation of counter-terrorism mandates, and with donor states to develop counter-terrorism capacity-building assistance programmes.
While serving as former Ambassador/Deputy Permanent Representative of Jamaica to the United Nations, he was responsible for Security Council affairs and undertook a number of special assignments, including as the first Chairman of the Security Council Working Group on Peacekeeping Operation and as a member of the Security Council Mission to the Great Lakes Region of Africa. In this capacity he participated in meetings with relevant Heads of States and Governments and other major players in the conflicts in the region, including leaders of rebel groups, and with former Presidents Sir Ketumile Masere and Nelson Mandela.
Ambassador Ward has participated on numerous fora on global security, terrorism, peacekeeping, the role of the United Nations, international cooperation, development, and related issues around the world hosted by governments, academia, think-tanks and other institutions, and has guest-lectured at a number of institutions, including the National Defense University – Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies, Washington DC.
Ambassador Ward holds an L.L.M. in International Law from Georgetown University. He also holds a J.D. in International & Commercial Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Economics and Political Science from Howard University.