Ahmed Saleem

Born on May 26, 1949, in Male', the capital of the Maldives, Mr. Saleem had his early education in the Majeediyya Boys' School, in Male', Maldives and New Delhi, India.

Mr. Saleem joined the Maldives Foreign Service (MFS) in 1968, three years after the country gained independence from the British. His first foreign posting was in Sri Lanka in 1972 and served briefly as Secretary in the Ministry of Education on his return from Colombo a year later. Although he rejoined the Foreign Ministry in 1975, he was deputed to the Ministry of Finance and served as the country's first Alternative Governor for the World Bank, IDA and ADB.

Mr. Saleem returned to the Foreign Ministry in 1978 and was in charge of multilateral issues, including the UN. Before becoming the Under-Secretary and subsequently the Senior Under-Secretary in the Foreign Ministry, he also served as Counselor at the Maldives UN Mission in New York. During his more than two decades of dedicated service in the MFS, Saleem participated in numerous international and regional conferences around the world in addition to being a regular member of the Maldives delegation to the UN General Assembly.

Following a brief tenure in the Department of Information and Broadcasting, Mr. Saleem became the first Director from the Maldives to serve in the SAARC Secretariat in Kathmandu. On return from Kathmandu end of 1993, he was made the Director-General in the Ministry of Youth, Women and Sports. He was transferred to his last post as Executive Director in the Ministry of Transport and Communication in May 2000.

A regular writer on international and regional affairs, Mr. Saleem was the first Editor of the Chronicle of the United Nations Association of Maldives (UNAM) and the SAARC Newsletter, published by the SAARC Secretariat, Kathmandu. In 1985, Mr. Saleem was also awarded UN Medal in recognition of his contribution to the celebrations marking the 40th Anniversary of UN. In 1995, on the 50th Anniversary of the United Nations, he anchored several television programmes highlighting the achievements of the world body.

A veteran of the Maldivian Foreign Service (MFS) still involved in regularly writing on international and regional issues and human rights, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the Mannin University of Dublin, Ireland, in recognition of his contribution to furthering public interest in and awareness of international, regional and social matters and in the advancement of the cause of human rights. The University particularly cited his article ‘the Music Has Begun to Change' covering the fate of the two Maldivian women falsely imprisoned in a neighboring country.

Before being appointed President of the newly constituted HRCM as a fully autonomous body under Maldivian law and in full conformity with the Paris Principles, Mr. Saleem was one of the 9 members of the original HRCM established by the President under a Decree on 10 Decemebr 2003.

Mr. Saleem was actively involved in sports at the club level in soccer, cricket, field hockey and lawn tennis. He plays social tennis regularly.

Saleem is married and has four children.