João Clemente Baena Soares (born 14 May 1931 in Belém do Pará diplomat. After working at his country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs for 31 years, he was elected to serve as the Secretary General of the Organization of American States from 1984 to 1994.

Ambassador João Clemente Baena Soares assumed office as Secretary General of the Organization of American States (OAS) on June 20,1984. An experienced diplomat from Brazil, he was Secretary General of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of his country prior to being elected unanimously in March of 1984 by the General Assembly of the OAS to the position of Secretary General.

In accordance with the Charter of the OAS, he was elected for a period of five years with the possibility of being re-elected for an additional five-year period. In 1988, the OAS General Assembly elected him to a second five-year period of office.

João Clemente Baena Soares brough to the OAS his valuable experience of more than 31 years of diplomatic service in his country. He occupied various important positions while serving his country; all of which were critical to Brazilian foreign policy. He has a deep and broad academic formation in the legal field.

Between 1997 and 2006, he was a member of the United Nations International Law Commission. On 4 November 2003 U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him to sit on the High-Level Panel on Threats, Challenges and Change. On 1 September 2006 he was appointed to the United Nations Human Rights Council 's High-Level Commission of Inquiry charged with probing allegations that Israel systematically targeted and killed Lebanese civilians during the 2006 War.