Carsten Staur (born 9 November 1954) is the Permanent Representative of Denmark to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the Permanent Delegate to the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris. Prior to this he was Denmark’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva (2013-2018), and before that Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York (2007-2013).

Ambassador Staur has chaired UNHCR’s Executive Committee (2015-2016), the drafting Committee of the 32nd International Red Cross and Red Crescent Conference (2015), and the Board of UNDP, UNFPA, and UNOPS (2007-2008). He also served as Vice-Chair of the Council of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) from 2016 to 2018; and was a Member of the Board of the Global Fund against Aids, Tuberculosis and Malaria (GFATM) from 2005-2007 and again from 2016 to 2018.

Carsten Staur has an extensive background in development cooperation. He was State Secretary in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs from 2001 to 2007 with responsibility for the implementation of Denmark’s development assistance programme (Danida). As State Secretary, he was also in charge of Denmark’s cooperation with the United Nations system and the World Bank.

From 1996 to 1998, Mr. Staur served as Denmark’s Ambassador to Israel. He then became Under Secretary for Administrative Affairs (1998-2000) and later Under Secretary for Bilateral Development Cooperation (2000-2001).

Carsten Staur joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark in 1981. He holds a MA degree (History and Literature) from the University of Copenhagen.

In 2013, Mr. Staur published a book on the UN: “Shared Responsibility. The United Nations in the Age of Globalization”, McGill-Queens’s University Press.