Profile: Sukehiro Hasegawa

Sukehiro Hasegawa is the president of the Global Peacebuilding Association of Japan. He served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste and as Head of the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET), the United Nations Office in Timor-Leste (UNOTIL), and the United Nations Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT) from May 2004 to September 2006. He served with the United Nations since 1969. He held several senior positions within the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) and United Nations peacekeeping operations. He was Deputy Resident Representative of UNDP in Nepal, from 1978 to 1980, and in Indonesia, from 1980 to 1984. He later served as UNDP Resident Representative and Resident Coordinator of the United Nations operational activities for development in Samoa, the Cook Islands, Niue and Tokelau. In 1993, he managed the United Nations Volunteer electoral supervisors assigned to plan and administer general elections in Cambodia.

In April 1994, he was appointed Director of Policy and Planning of the United Nations peacekeeping operation in Somalia, and in January 1995, he became the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Rwanda. He subsequently served as the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director for Asia and the Pacific at UNDP in New York. From July 2002 to May 2004, he served as the United Nations Resident Coordinator for Timor-Leste, and concurrently as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Timor-Leste and Deputy Head of UNMISET. He holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in political science from the University of Michigan, a Master of Arts degree in public administration from the International Christian University of Tokyo, and a Ph.D. in international relations from Washington University in St. Louis, Missouri. Dr. Hasegawa is member of the Board of Directors of Japan Association of United Nations Studies and member of the Earth Charter Commission for Asia and the Pacific. He is a Goodwill Ambassador of the Democratic Republic of Timor-Leste and served as Special Advisor to President José Ramos-Horta from 2006 to 2012.