Emanuela Curnis was born in Calcinate, Italy, on March 9, 1976.
She graduated in Law from the Università degli Studi of Milan in 2001 and holds a Master in International Relations from the Institute for International Political Studies.
She joined the Italian diplomatic service in December 2002. After an initial period at the Directorate General for Cultural Promotion and Cooperation, she worked at the Directorate General for Mediterranean and Middle East.
From 2007 to 2010 she was posted to Cape Town, South Africa, as Consul of Italy.
From 2011 to 2015 she served at the Permanent Mission of Italy to the United Nations in New York, where she focused mainly on Africa-related issues and UN Security Council’s activities.
In 2015 she returned to Rome, and worked at the Directorate General for Cultural Affairs, Economic Promotion and Innovation, as Deputy Head of the Office for Cultural Promotion and Italian Cultural Institutes.
In January 2017, she started working at the United Nations and Human Rights Department of the Directorate General for Political Affairs and Security. She was initially in charge of the United Nations System Office, and dealt mainly with UN General Assembly issues, UN Reforms and candidatures. At the end of August 2017 she was appointed Head of the United Nations, Peace and Security Office, where she coordinated the Italian 2017 mandate on the UN Security Council and dealt with conflict prevention, mediation, peacekeeping, peacebuilding, Women, Peace and Security, Youth, Peace and Security, and UN Security Council’s reform. In her capacity, she has been actively involved in the establishment and consolidation of the Mediterranean Women Mediators Network (MWMN), and was the Italian Focal Point for the Responsibility to Protect.
As of January 6, 2020, Ms. Curnis has assumed her position as Consul General of Italy in Johannesburg.
