Mr Santiago Oñate Laborde was born in Mexico City, Mexico in 1949. He completed his initial degree in law from the Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México Law School in 1972 and obtained his Licenciatura en Derecho (L.I.B) in 1973. Mr Oñate Laborde finished his post graduate studies from the Universitá degli Studi di Pavia (Italy) in Procedural Law (1973-1974) and International Law and Human Rights from the London School of Economics, London, United Kingdom (1974-1975).

Prior to his present appointment as the Legal Adviser, Mr Oñate Laborde was the Mexican Ambassador to the Netherlands and concurrently was accredited as his country’s Permanent Representative to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) from 2001 to 2003. He was the leader of the Mexican Delegations to the OPCW Conference of the States Parties during his tenure as the Permanent Representative of Mexico.

Mr Oñate Laborde has participated in a number of regional and international organizations meetings and conferences including being a Member of the Mexican Delegation to the UN Rio Conference 1992, Head of the Mexican Delegation to the 83rd Session of the International Labour Organization in 1995, and Representative of Mexico to the International Maritime Organization (1997-2001).

He has held a number of senior positions within the Mexican Government including Minister of Labour (December 1994-August 1995), Chief of Staff Mexican President’s Office (April-November 1994), and Attorney General for Protection of the Environment (June 1992-April 1994), and Ambassador of Mexico to the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (April 1997-March 2001). In addition, in the academic field, Mr Oñate Laborde was appointed as Professor of Law at Universidad Autónoma Metropolitana, Mexico City (1975-1981) and a Visiting Professor to the Law School, University of Wisconsin-Madison, USA in 1982.

Mr Oñate Laborde is married.