Francisco Carrión Mena is the former Minister of Foreign Relations of Ecuador and was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative to the United Nations. Last year he was elected President of the International Committee of the United Nations for the Protection of the Rights of Migrant Workers and Their Families. In his academic role, Francisco Carrion is the Director of the International Academic Affairs Department of the Latin American Faculty of Social Sciences (FLACSO) Ecuador, and professor in the same university since 2007.
Francisco Carrión has been a distinguished career diplomat in the Ecuadorian Foreign Service, serving as Deputy Secretary of National Sovereignty, Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs (1998-2000), Minister of Foreign Affairs (2005-2007), Ambassador of Ecuador in Spain from 2000 to 2005, and Advisor and Diplomatic Coordinator for the President of the Republic (1988-1991). As a specialist in conflict resolution areas, he was also a member of the Peace Negotiation Committees with Peru, from 1996 to 1998. He has been a member of the Ecuadorian Foreign Service since 1974. As Minister and Vice-minister of Foreign Affairs, as well as in his diplomatic posts, he represented Ecuador in multiple international meetings related to conflict resolution, migratory issues, integration, and border development, among others.
Carrión received his PhD in International Sciences (legal-diplomatic majors) from the Central University of Ecuador (1978), after completing his Bachelor in Public and Social Sciences in the law school of the same university in 1974. He received additional professional training in International Relations and Diplomacy in different institutions, including a Diploma from III Course on International Relations (Foundation for Research and Studies, Faculty of Political Sciences in Florence, Italy, 1983), and courses and seminars at the Institute of International Public Administration (Paris, France), at the Diplomatic Academy of Lima (Peru), at the Diplomatic Academy of Chile, and many others in Ecuador.
Carrión has published articles on migration, international affairs in Ecuador and the Andean region, and international law. He is a widely recognized expert on conflict resolution and border relations between Ecuador and Perú, as well as a specialist on foreign affairs between all Andean countries and the Caribbean. He has been a regular columnist at El Comercio newspaper in Quito since 2007.
Conflict Transformation Across Borders 