- Jan Eliasson
Jan Kenneth Glenn Eliasson (born
17 September 1940 ) is a Swedishdiplomat and Social Democraticpolitician . He wasPresident of the United Nations General Assembly from 2005 to 2006 and Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs from24 April 2006 to6 October 2006 . He is currently theUnited Nations Secretary-General 'sSpecial Envoy to Darfur,Sudan .Biography
Jan Eliasson was born in a
working-class family inGothenburg . He was an AFS exchange student inIndiana ,United States , from 1957 to 1958 and graduated from theSwedish Naval Academy in 1962. In 1965 he earned a Master's degree in Economics from theUniversity of Gothenburg 'sSchool of Business, Economics and Law . He also holds honorary degrees fromAmerican University (1994),Gothenburg University (2001) andUppsala University (2005).Eliasson has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles and is a frequent lecturer on foreign policy and diplomacy. Since 1988 he has been a visiting lecturer on mediation, conflict resolution and U.N. reform at Uppsala University.
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'sPermanent Representative to theUnited 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 theBalkans . 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 . On13 June 2005 he was unanimously electedPresident of the United Nations General Assembly , for its sixtieth session. He served as President from13 September 2005 to11 September 2006 .From
24 April 2006 to6 October 2006 he also served as Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Social Democratic cabinet ofGöran Persson . Following theSwedish general election, 2006 when his party lost the election, he announced that he will teach at Uppsala University.In December 2006, then U.N. Secretary-General
Kofi Annan announced Eliasson asSpecial Envoy to Darfur,Sudan .External links
* [http://www.swedenabroad.se/pages/general.asp?id=7038&expand=6997 Biography at the Embassy of Sweden]
* [http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/5658/a/46233 Jan Eliasson elected President of the UN General Assembly] - press release from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
* [http://www.un.org/ga/president/60/office/president.html President of the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly]
* [http://www.sweden.gov.se/sb/d/3103/a/46337 Speech by Jan Eliasson to the U.N. General Assembly]
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