Charles Whiteley is a Dutch and British citizen. After reading law at Downing College, Cambridge and qualifying as a barrister in the UK, he began working for the European Union in 1999. He worked for 6 years in the Human Rights and Democracy Unit of DG External Relations, with responsibilities including UN and OSCE matters, the rights of persons with disabilities and the rights of children.

Charles Whiteley was posted to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in 2005-2009 as Deputy Head of Mission covering political, trade and press matters. He then served in Indonesia from 2009-2012 leading on political, trade and press issues. From 2012-2015 he was political advisor to the Deputy Secretary General of the European External Action Service, supporting political dialogues with partner countries and EU engagement with the G7. From 2015-19 he served as First Counsellor/Head of Division for Human Rights and Social Affairs at the EU Delegation to the United Nations in New York, acting as lead negotiator on several UN resolutions, including the UNGA resolution on the Rohingya refugee crisis. Between 2019 and 2021 he was First Counsellor/Head of Political,

Press and Information in Hong Kong. He was appointed as EU Ambassador/Head of Delegation to the People’s Republic of Bangladesh in September 2021.