Paul Heinbecker

Paul Heinbecker (born 1941) is a retired Canadian career diplomat and a former Canadian ambassador to Germany and permanent representative of Canada to the United Nations in New York City.

Heinbecker is married to Ayşe Köymen. They have two daughters, Yasemin and Céline.

Heinbecker earned an honours B.A. from Waterloo Lutheran University (now Wilfrid Laurier University) in 1965. He has honorary doctorates from Laurier and St. Thomas Universities.

Heinbecker joined the Department of External Affairs immediately after graduation; his postings abroad were in Ankara, , Paris and Washington.

From 1989 to 1992, Heinbecker served as Chief Foreign Policy Advisor and speechwriter for Prime Minister Brian Mulroney, and as Assistant Secretary to the Cabinet for Foreign and Defence Policy.

In 1992, he was appointed ambassador to Germany. In the Department of Foreign Affairs in the late 1990s, he was the senior official responsible for the development of the Canadian human security agenda. He led the Canadian task forces on the Zaire and the Kosovo conflicts, participating in the diplomacy that ended the Kosovo war. He also served as chief negotiator of the to the International Climate Change Convention.

In 2000, Heinbecker was appointed Canadian representative to the United Nations. There he was a strong proponent of the International Criminal Court and argued for compromise to avoid the Iraq War of 2003.

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