Ronald Sanders (diplomat)

Sir Ronald Michael Sanders (born 26 January 1948) is an Antiguan Barbudan diplomat, academic, former broadcast-journalist, and the current Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary to the United States and to the Organization of American States (OAS) since 2015.

He holds the unique distinction of being the first person, since the OAS enlarged its membership in 1962, to serve as Chairman of the Permanent Council of the OAS for an unprecedented three terms.

He completed his highly successful third term on December 31, 2023, having played a widely recognized role in guiding the work of the Permanent Council in the peaceful transition of government in Guatemala on 14 January 2024.

Sanders was a successful broadcaster in the 1970s, becoming general manager of the Guyana Broadcasting Service in 1973 at the early age of 25.

Simultaneously, he helped to found the Caribbean Broadcasting Union, and the Caribbean News Agency, serving on the Executive of both bodies.

He served twice as Antigua's High Commissioner to the United Kingdom (1983–1987, 1996–2004) as well as ambassador to the World Trade Organization (WTO) (1997–2004).

He also served as the youngest elected member of the Executive Board of UNESCO and the first person from a micro state (1983-1985) to do so.

He was also a visiting fellow at Queen Elizabeth House, Oxford University in the United Kingdom (1987–1988).

Having been one of the first Caribbean negotiators with the OECD on its "Harmful Tax Policy" in 1990, he went on to become the chairman of the Caribbean Financial Action Task Force against drug trafficking and money laundering.

Between 2002–2004, Sanders was Antigua and Barbuda's chief foreign affairs representative.

He holds the distinction of being the only representative of a small state to lead a successful trade dispute at the World Trade Organization.

In 2004, a World Trade Organization arbitration panel found in favour of the arguments he led as Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador in a case against the United States of America over cross-border access for Internet gaming and a violation of the General Agreement on Trade in Services.

He was a member and Rapporteur of the Commonwealth Eminent Persons Group (2010–2011) that produced a seminal report entitled, "A Commonwealth of the People: Time for Urgent Reform", which laid out a plan of action to make the Commonwealth effective and relevant.

Since 2010, he has been a member of "The Friends of the Democratic Charter", a group of leading personalities from Latin America and the Caribbean, established by former US President Jimmy Carter, to oversee compliance with the Inter-American Democratic Charter.

He was Antigua and Barbuda's nominee to be secretary general of the Commonwealth at the election held at the 2015 Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting.

He is a senior research fellow (on leave) at the Institute of Commonwealth Studies, University of London, and a senior fellow (on leave) at Massey College at the University of Toronto.

He is a speaker at conventions and conferences on global financial services issues and on Latin America and Caribbean states in the global political-economy and the Commonwealth.

Sanders was born in Guyana.

He has a master's degree in international relations from the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom and attended Boston University in the United States.

Sanders was perceived to be the frontrunner to become the 6th Commonwealth Secretary-General and was backed by the majority of CARICOM nations heading into a meeting of Commonwealth Heads of Government in Malta in November 2015.

There were three candidates: Sanders, proposed by Antigua and Barbuda with the support of the majority of Caribbean countries; Baroness Patricia Scotland, a member of the British House of Lords and a former British government minister, nominated by Dominica where she was born and backed by the British government; and Mmasekgoa Masire-Mwamba, of Botswana, a former Deputy Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Secretariat.

Sanders' campaign for the post was torpedoed the day before the election by a story in British newspaper The Daily Telegraph that had been touted to other media but rejected by them.

The story was based on an eleven-year old, unsubstantiated allegation made in an unpublished report by the political party then in office in Antigua and Barbuda.

At the time, the allegations were roundly condemned by lawyers in the region.

The story also paid scant attention to a published letter in June 2015 by the police commissioner of Antigua and Barbuda saying that the police had no interest in Sir Ronald and that Antigua's director of public prosecutions had ruled that the allegations against him were “seriously defective” and “disclose no offence”.

In the end, both Sanders and Masire-Mwamba lost to Patricia Scotland.

Sanders went on to continue his diplomatic career as Antigua and Barbuda's ambassador to the United States and the Organization of American States (OAS).

From January to April 2016, he served a highly praised period as Chair of the Permanent Council of the 34-member Organization of American States.

The Permanent Council is the decision-making body responsible for the affairs of the OAS between meetings of foreign ministers of the member countries.

In January/February 2016, he also led a Special OAS mission to Haiti that helped to solve a constitutional and political impasse that threatened violence and political disruption; a role for which he is highly regarded within Haiti and by the Haitian diaspora.

In January 2021, Sanders was again pressed into Commonwealth Service when he was appointed by the Vice Chancellor of the University of London to serve as a member and rapporteur of a committee to conduct an inquiry into the future of Commonwealth Studies at the University.

The committee presented its report in July 2021 and all of its recommendations, particularly to maintain Commonwealth Studies, were accepted by the University Council.

In April 2021, Sanders was appointed Vice Chair of the OAS Permanent Council for a three-month term.

After the sudden death of Chair Elisa Ruiz Díaz, he served as Chair for the remainder of the term.

On October 1, 2023, he assumed the Chair of the Permanent Council of the OAS for a historic third term, which ended on December 31, 2023.

He held several Special Meetings of the Permanent Council on challenges being experienced in the Americas such as climate change, irregular migration, guns, gangs, and violence, in addition to other issues of democracy and security confronting the Member States of the OAS, particularly Guatemala.

In the latter case, he played an important role in ensuring that the Government of Guatemala cooperated with the OAS Permanent Council and the Secretary-General of the Organization, leading to a peaceful transition of government on 14 January 2024.

In December 2023, Guatemalan President Alejandro Giammattei Falla requested Ambassador Sanders, as Chair of the OAS Permanent Council, to visit Guatemala in the company of OAS Secretary General Luis Almagro to hold discussions on the leadership transition process in the country.

The transition process was contentious due to efforts by Guatemala’s Public Ministry to overturn the results of the first and second round of elections held on June 25, 2023 and August 20, 2023, respectively.

He is also the non-resident High Commissioner to Canada since 2017.