Vanessa Frazier, Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations, has been listed among the 2024 UN Persons of the Year by PassBlue, an independent, women-led nonprofit news company that closely covers the US-UN relationship, women’s issues, human rights, peacekeeping and other global matters.

The company judged Francesca Albanese, the UN special rapporteur on the Occupied Palestinian territories as the Overall UN Person of the Year.

The first runner up was Philippe Lazzarini, the commissioner-general of the UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). António Guterres, the UN Secretary-General, was second runner-up.

Frazier was runner-up as the UN Diplomat of the Year after Riyad Mansour, permanent observer of Palestine to the UN. He was chosen on the basis of a survey that asked respondents to nominate ambassadors of the UN’s 193 member states.

The second-runner-up was  Carolyn Rodrigues-Birkett, permanent representative of Guyana to the UN.

PassBlue said its nominees were people who had demonstrated strong leadership in 2024 to uphold the UN Charter, advocate for universal human rights, act to ensure international humanitarian law and promote peace and nonviolence throughout the world.

Frazier began her diplomatic career as a student diplomat in 1992 and was appointed First Secretary at the Foreign Ministry in 1994.

She served in London and Washington before being appointed ambassador to Belgium, Luxembourg and NATO. She became ambassador to Italy in 2013 and moved to New York in 2020 as Malta's Permanent Representative to the United Nations.

2024 was particularly busy for her as she was heavily involved in Security Council negotiations for resolutions calling for the protection of children in armed conflict zones and a ceasefire in Gaza.