Baroness Valerie Amos, Foundation Board member and Director of SOAS, University of London, has been made a Companion of Honour (CH) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours list.
The award recognises Baroness Amos’ services to the United Nations and emergency relief in conflict areas. She is honoured for her distinguished record of public and international service from her time as Chief Executive of the Equal Opportunities Commission, to her service in the British Cabinet and most recently as United Nations Under-Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs.
Baroness Amos said: “It is a privilege to have my work at the United Nations and in public service more generally recognised with this honour. Britain is an extraordinary country. It has enabled me, a woman from Guyana who came here as a child, to not only serve in the Cabinet but to represent the country overseas and serve at a senior level internationally as a result of the opportunities afforded to me.”
The CH is awarded for outstanding achievements in the arts, literature, music, science, politics, industry, and religion, and a maximum of 65 people can hold the award at any one time.
