UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon Friday (02.03.2012) appointed Jan Eliasson of Sweden, a veteran in the fields of diplomacy and foreign relations, as the new Deputy Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Mr. Eliasson (71) will take over from Asha-Rose Migiro of Tanzania on 1 July. He is no stranger to the UN, having served as the Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Darfur, President of the 60th session of the General Assembly and first Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs.
He is currently a member of the Secretary-General’s Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) Advocate Group.
At the national level, he has served in key ambassadorial positions representing his country in New York and Washington, as well as State Secretary for Foreign Affairs and Foreign Minister of Sweden.
Prior to beginning his second five-year term at the helm of the Organization in January, Mr. Ban said that he is undertaking a thorough review of his entire team. He added that he is focusing on those senior officials who already have five years of service, as well as trying to balance the need for fresh perspectives with the need for maintaining continuity of purpose.
OM Jan Eliasson:
Eliasson started his diplomatic career in 1965, when he was employed at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. From 1982 to 1983 he served as Diplomatic Advisor to the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and from 1983 to 1987 as Director General for Political Affairs in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs.
From 1980 to 1986, Eliasson was part of the U.N. mission, mediating in the Iran–Iraq War. From 1988 to 1992 he served as Sweden’s Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, where he also served as the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative on Iran/Iraq.
In 1991, Eliasson was chairman of the U.N. General Assembly’s working group on emergency relief and Vice President of the U.N. Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC) from 1991 to 1992.
In 1992 he was appointed as the first U.N. Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. He was involved in operations in Somalia, Sudan, Mozambique and the Balkans. He also took initiatives on issues such as land mines, prevention and humanitarian action.
From 1994 to 1999, Eliasson served as Swedish State Secretary for Foreign Affairs. From 2000 to 2005 he served as Sweden’s Ambassador to Washington, D.C., United States.
On 13 June 2005 he was unanimously elected President of the United Nations General Assembly, for its sixtieth session. He served as President from 13 September 2005 to 11 September 2006.
From 24 April 2006 to 6 October 2006 he also served as Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Social Democratic cabinet of Göran Persson. Following the Swedish general election, 2006 when his party lost the election, he left the post.
In December 2006, then U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced Eliasson as Special Envoy to Darfur, Sudan. He left this mission in June 2008.
Eliasson is married to Kerstin Eliasson, former Swedish State Secretary for Education and Science. They have three children: Anna, Emilie and Johan.
