Yoka Brandt is a Dutch diplomat, administrator and senior civil servant and has held various positions at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands since 1985. She has served as Ambassador of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to Eritrea (2000-2004), followed by an ambassadorship of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in Uganda (2007), before being appointed Director General for International Cooperation of the Kingdom of the Netherlands (2008). From 2012 to 2016, she was Deputy Executive Director for Partnerships at UNICEF. Returning to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in 2016, Brandt became Secretary-General. In 2020, she was appointed Permanent Representative of the Kingdom of the Netherlands to the United Nations. She retired on 1 February 2025.
Currently, Brandt is a supervisory board chair of The Hague Humanity Hub, a non-profit supporting peace and justice initiatives. She is also a supervisory board member of the Prince Claus Fund and a member of the Advisory Group of the UN Secretary General’s Peacebuilding Fund.
