Sylvester E. Rowe
Sylvester E. Rowe is a former Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative of Sierra Leone to the United Nations. He joined the UN Mission in 1997 as an adviser after a long 30-year career in the UN Secretariat, where he led UN Radio and Television Services, wrote speeches, and served as a spokesman for the President of the 39th UN General Assembly (1984–85). He also sat on the UN administration of justice system as a member of the Joint Appeals Board and Administrative Tribunal.
In 1994, he worked on a UN mission to Liberia and Ghana to help implement the Cotonou Peace Agreement for Liberia. As Ambassador and Deputy Permanent Representative, he handled disarmament and international security, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, human rights, Security Council reform, weapons issues, and sanctions, including monitoring Sierra Leone’s diamond trade to stop “blood diamonds.” He represented Sierra Leone in the UN Commission on Human Rights in Geneva and in committees on Peacekeeping Operations, Palestinian Rights and Decolonization. He helped draft international rules on marking and tracing small arms and light weapons and on the rights of persons with disabilities.
In 2005, as chair, he helped the UN Disarmament Commission break an impasse and agree on its agenda. He also chaired the Preparatory Committee for the first Review Conference on implementing the UN Programme of Action on illicit small arms trade. From 1997 to 2007 he was an ad hoc political and communications advisor to Sierra Leone’s president. He was part of the government delegation to peace talks with the RUF rebels and helped draft the 1999 Lomé Peace Agreement, focusing on political and disarmament issues and humanitarian language. In 2001 he served as the President’s Personal Representative in UN talks on child soldiers.
Rowe studied at Syracuse University and the City University of New York, where he earned MA, MPhil, and PhD degrees. He was a visiting professor at Long Island University (C.W. Post Campus) in 1998 and later taught there as an adjunct professor, and he was an adjunct professor at Fordham University in 2009. He has lectured and written on Sierra Leone’s peacekeeping, disarmament, security, human rights and transitional justice, with works and papers published in various outlets.
He was a senior adviser to the Sierra Leone delegation to the UN General Assembly’s 65th and 66th sessions (2010–2011). He is a member of the American Society of International Law and sometimes serves as a judge in the Jessup Moot Court Competition. He is currently the NGO Representative for the International Association of Peace Messenger Cities (IAPMC).
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 07:24 (CET).