Ambassador Abiodun Richards ADEJOLA has been the Permanent Representative of Nigeria to the United Nations and other international organizations in Geneva since June 2021. Ambassador Adejola has had a distinguished career with the Nigerian foreign service, spanning more than 30 years. Prior to his appointment as Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the UN in Geneva, he was posted in Ethiopia as Deputy Head of Mission at the Embassy and at the Permanent Mission of Nigeria to the African Union and to the Economic Commission for Africa in Addis Ababa. He also served at his country’s diplomatic missions in Trinidad and Tobago, the United Kingdom, and at UN headquarters in New York. He has represented Nigeria in numerous regional and international meetings and conferences and has a number of publications. Ambassador Adejola’s areas of expertise include policy planning, research and statistics, multilateral disarmament negotiation, and labour and migration issues.
Employer Vice-Chairperson: Ms Renate Hornung-Draus (Germany)
Ms Hornung-Draus is Managing Director for Economic and International Affairs of the Confederation of German Employers' Associations (BDA), the top business organization representing the interests of private employers in the fields of employment, labour and social affairs. She directs BDA’s activities in the economic and international fields. This includes on the one hand representing the employers’ views vis-à-vis the relevant national, European and. international institutions, as well as within international organizations and fora (ILO, OECD, OHCHR, G7/B7, G20/B20), and on the other hand providing advice and services to member organizations and companies on economic and international issues in the fields of employment, integrity and sustainability. Renate Hornung-Draus has published extensively on economic and international topics, inter alia on European Policy, Industrial Relations, International Social Policy and Labour Standards. She holds many honorary functions in international, academic and business organizations, among others as Vice-President for ILO matters of the International Organisation of Employers (IOE) and Chair of Business at OECD - BIAC's Employment, Labour and Social Affairs Committee, Chair of BusinessEurope's CSR Working Party, Board member of the German-Arab Friendship Association (DAFG), and Advisory Board member of the Birmingham Business School and Trier University Institute for Employment Relations in the EU. Furthermore she serves among others as Vice-Chairperson of the Governing Body of the International Labour Organization and as Co-Chair of the B20 Future of Work and Education Task Force.
Worker Vice-Chairperson: Ms Catelene Passchier (the Netherlands)
Ms Passchier is the Chairperson of the Workers’ group in the International Labour Organization (ILO), elected at the International Labour Conference in June 2017 and re-elected in June 2021. She studied law at Utrecht University and started her career as a barrister in Amsterdam. In 1988, she joined the Confederation of Trade Unions of the Netherlands (FNV) as its legal adviser, and in 2003 was elected Confederal Secretary of the European Trade Union Confederation (ETUC) in Brussels. In 2010 she went back to the Netherlands to become a member of the executive board and vice-president of FNV until May 2017. In 2018, she joined the National Contact Point (NCP) for the OECD guidelines for Multinational Enterprises of the Netherlands as one of its independent members, and became its Chairperson in May 2021. She currently is also the Vice-Chairperson of the Fair Wear Foundation.
