# Chris Beeby > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chris_Beeby > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Chris_Beeby.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Beeby > Source revision: 1350923604 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) {{short description|New Zealand diplomat}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=March 2026}} {{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Christopher Beeby | image = File:Chris Beeby (new zealand diplomat).png | office = [Ambassador of New Zealand to Iran](/source/Ambassador_of_New_Zealand_to_Iran) | office2 = New Zealand Deputy-Secretary of Foreign Affairs | term_start2 = 1985 | term_end2 = 1991 | office3 = [Ambassador of New Zealand to France](/source/Ambassador_of_New_Zealand_to_France) | term_start3 = 1991 | term_end3 = 1996 | office4 = Member of the [Appellate Body](/source/Appellate_Body) | term_start4 = 1995 | term_end4 = 19 March 2000 | birth_name = | birth_date = October 1935 | birth_place = [Wellington](/source/Wellington), New Zealand | death_date = {{Death date and age|2000|03|19|1935|10|df=y}} | death_place = [Geneva](/source/Geneva), Switzerland | term_start = 15 May 1978 | term_end = 15 June 1980 | relatives = | parents = [Beatrice Beeby](/source/Beatrice_Beeby) (mother)
[C. E. Beeby](/source/C._E._Beeby) (father) }} '''Christopher David Beeby''' (October 1935 – 19 March 2000) was a New Zealand diplomat who held several ambassadorships and was involved in international litigation and negotiations, notably over Antarctic resources. Beeby was New Zealand's [ambassador to Iran](/source/Ambassador_of_New_Zealand_to_Iran) (1978 to 1980) and [to France](/source/Ambassador_of_New_Zealand_to_France) (1991 to 1996) and was a member of the [World Trade Organization](/source/World_Trade_Organization)'s [Appellate Body](/source/Appellate_Body) from 1995 to his death in 2000. While ambassador to Iran, Beeby assisted American diplomats in the [Iran hostage crisis](/source/Iran_hostage_crisis). == Early life and education== Christopher David Beeby{{Cite news|last=Kitchin|first=Peter|date=30 March 2000|title=Geneva, Otaki Forks home to diplomacy's everyman|page=7|work=[The Evening Post](/source/The_Evening_Post_(New_Zealand))}} was born on 10 or 15 October 1935, in [Wellington](/source/Wellington), New Zealand, to [C. E. Beeby](/source/C._E._Beeby) and [Beatrice Beeby](/source/Beatrice_Beeby).{{Cite book|last=Alcorn|first=Noeline|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MfrO3EvD6tsC|title=To the Fullest Extent of His Powers: C.E. Beeby's Life in Education|date=1999|publisher=Victoria University Press|isbn=978-0-86473-353-5|pages=63, 304|language=en}} He attended the [Victoria University of Wellington](/source/Victoria_University_of_Wellington) and the [London School of Economics](/source/London_School_of_Economics). ==Career== He entered the [New Zealand Department of Foreign Affairs](/source/New_Zealand_Department_of_Foreign_Affairs) in 1963 as a legal adviser, first working on the [New Zealand Australia Free Trade Agreement](/source/New_Zealand_Australia_Free_Trade_Agreement). He was promoted to a divisional head in the department's legal division in 1969 and headed the economic division from 1976 to 1978.{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xMNOdF7vuXkC|title=WTO Appellate Body Repertory of Reports and Awards: 1995–2010|date=2011-04-28|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-139-50149-1|pages=1174|language=en}} Beeby worked to draft [anti-nuclear legislation](/source/New_Zealand_nuclear-free_zone) for New Zealand and served as counsel for New Zealand in the [International Court of Justice](/source/International_Court_of_Justice) during the Nuclear Tests Case in 1973 and 1974.{{Cite web|title=DG Moore notes with sadness the passing of appellate judge Beeby|url=https://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres00_e/pr171_e.htm|url-status=live|access-date=2020-12-01|website=WTO News|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20000817061953/http://www.wto.org:80/english/news_e/pres00_e/pr171_e.htm |archive-date=2000-08-17 }}{{Cite web|title=New Zealand Diplomat Beeby Dies|url=https://apnews.com/article/9c70ccd03edcd93381b574d47c3f6942|access-date=2020-12-01|website=AP NEWS}} As [Ambassador of New Zealand to Iran](/source/Ambassador_of_New_Zealand_to_Iran) from 15 May 1978 to 15 June 1980,{{Cite web|last=|first=|date=2007-02-11|title=New Zealand Heads of Overseas Missions|url=http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Embassies/3-NZ-Ambassadors/countries-i.php|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070211055248/http://www.mfat.govt.nz/Embassies/3-NZ-Ambassadors/countries-i.php|archive-date=2007-02-11|access-date=2021-01-19|website=NZ Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade}} Beeby was involved in the [Iran hostage crisis](/source/Iran_hostage_crisis) in 1979, when he, as ambassador, and another employee at the New Zealand embassy, Richard Sewell, helped several American diplomats escape to safety. ''[The New Zealand Herald](/source/The_New_Zealand_Herald)'' named Beeby and Sewell the "New Zealanders of the Year for 1979" for their actions.{{Cite web|title=1979, Chris Beeby and Richard Sewell: The Argo story|url=https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/1979-chris-beeby-and-richard-sewell-the-argo-story/GOJAOKHZNYDPWVVKYITOE7G4Z4/|access-date=2020-12-01|website=NZ Herald|language=en-NZ}}{{Cite web|date=2013-03-13|title=NZ diplomats 'heroic' - Argo escapee|url=https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/film/8424975/NZ-diplomats-heroic-Argo-escapee|access-date=2020-12-01|website=Stuff|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Fisher|first=Max|title=Why New Zealand is officially, earnestly upset about 'Argo'|language=en-US|newspaper=Washington Post|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/worldviews/wp/2013/02/27/why-new-zealand-is-officially-earnestly-upset-about-argo/|access-date=2020-12-01|issn=0190-8286}} In 1983 Beeby chaired several negotiations on the [Convention on the Regulation of Antarctic Mineral Resource Activities](/source/Convention_on_the_Regulation_of_Antarctic_Mineral_Resource_Activities).{{Cite book|last=Day|first=David|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xNiYEpc5VP0C&dq=%22Chris+Beeby%22+diplomat&pg=PP475|title=Antarctica: A Biography|date=2013-06-03|publisher=Oxford University Press|isbn=978-0-19-932362-3|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Shapley|first=Deborah|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C5QuAgAAQBAJ&dq=%22beeby%22&pg=PA148|title=The Seventh Continent: Antarctica in a Resource Age|date=2013-11-26|publisher=Routledge|isbn=978-1-135-99386-3|pages=174|language=en}}{{Cite book|last=Nagtzaam|first=Gerry|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=TVlfil7gn0gC&dq=%22chris+beeby%22&pg=PA112|title=The Making of International Environmental Treaties: Neoliberal and Constructivist Analyses of Normative Evolution|date=2009|publisher=Edward Elgar Publishing|isbn=978-1-84980-348-9|pages=112|language=en}}{{Cite journal|last1=Bilder|first1=Richard B.|last2=Mansfield|first2=William R.|last3=Joyner|first3=Christopher C.|last4=Barnes|first4=James N.|last5=Chopra|first5=Sudhir K.|date=1985|title=Who Has the Right of Exploitation, and the Right to Prevent Exploitation, of the Minerals in Antarctica?|url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/25658245|journal=Proceedings of the Annual Meeting (American Society of International Law)|volume=79|pages=68|jstor=25658245|issn=0272-5037}} He spent six years working towards a convention that eventually manifested as the [Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty](/source/Protocol_on_Environmental_Protection_to_the_Antarctic_Treaty). He was involved in the [Rainbow Warrior Case](/source/Rainbow_Warrior_Case) in 1989 to 1990. Beeby was Deputy-Secretary of Foreign Affairs from 1985 to 1991 and [Ambassador of New Zealand to France](/source/Ambassador_of_New_Zealand_to_France) (1992 to 1995). While living in Paris, in 1993 Beeby's offices were raided by French farmers. He was also at one point New Zealand's Permanent Representative to the [OECD](/source/OECD). In 1995 he attempted to mediate an end to the [Pacific Salmon War](/source/Pacific_Salmon_War) between Canada and the United States, but was unsuccessful. That same year he was appointed as an original member of the [World Trade Organization](/source/World_Trade_Organization)'s [Appellate Body](/source/Appellate_Body), which he chaired in 1998. He was still serving upon his death. ==Death== He died on 19 March 2000 at the age of 64, in [Geneva](/source/Geneva). [Phil Goff](/source/Phil_Goff), then [Foreign Minister of New Zealand](/source/Foreign_Minister_of_New_Zealand), said that “Chris Beeby was widely regarded as an exceptional diplomat and one of the best international lawyers of modern times.”{{Cite web|title=Passing of Distinguished Diplomat Chris Beeby|url=http://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/passing-distinguished-diplomat-chris-beeby|access-date=2020-12-01|website=The Beehive|language=en}} [Beeby Peak](/source/Beeby_Peak) in Antarctica is named after him.{{Cite web|title=Beeby Peak|url=https://data.aad.gov.au/aadc/gaz/scar/display_name.cfm?gaz_id=122349|access-date=2020-12-01|website=SCAR Composite Gazetteer}}{{Cite news|date=23 March 2000|title=A 'most brilliant' diplomat|work=[The Press](/source/The_Press)}} == References == {{Reflist}} Category:2000 deaths Category:New Zealand diplomats Category:Members of the Appellate Body Category:1935 births Category:People from Wellington City Category:Victoria University of Wellington alumni Category:New Zealand public servants Category:Alumni of the London School of Economics Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Chris Beeby](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Beeby) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chris_Beeby?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.