Søren Jessen-Petersen
Encyclopedia
| Predecessor | Michael Steiner Michael Steiner Michael Steiner , a national of Germany, was head of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo . He studied law in Paris and Munich from 1971 to 1977 and qualified as a judge in 1981. Later that year, he entered the German Foreign Office... |
|---|---|
| Date of Birth | 1945 |
| Place of Birth | Denmark Denmark Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark... |
| Profession | Lawyer Lawyer A lawyer, according to Black's Law Dictionary, is "a person learned in the law; as an attorney, counsel or solicitor; a person who is practicing law." Law is the system of rules of conduct established by the sovereign government of a society to correct wrongs, maintain the stability of political... |
Søren Jessen-Petersen (born 1945, Nørresundby
Nørresundby
Nørresundby, a part of Aalborg Municipality, is a northern neighbourhood in Aalborg, north of the Limfjord, in Vendsyssel, in Denmark. The urban area has a population of 21,376 ....
, Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
) is an international civil servant from Denmark
Denmark
Denmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
. He was named Special Representative of the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
Secretary-General for Kosovo
Kosovo
Kosovo is a region in southeastern Europe. Part of the Ottoman Empire for more than five centuries, later the Autonomous Province of Kosovo and Metohija within Serbia...
and head of UNMIK on 16 June 2004 and held the position until the end of June 2006. Jessen-Petersen now works for the diplomatic advisory group Independent Diplomat, founded by Carne Ross
Carne Ross
Carne Ross is founder and director of Independent Diplomat, a diplomatic advisory group. Born in 1966, Ross has a fraternal twin, Oliver Ross, a successful paediatric anaesthetist in UK. Ross taught in Zimbabwe before attending the University of Exeter where he studied economics and politics. He...
.
Soren Jessen-Petersen is currently the Director of the Washington office of the Independent Diplomat
Independent Diplomat
Independent Diplomat is a non-profit organisation founded in 2004 by former British diplomat Carne Ross to give advice and assistance in diplomatic strategy and technique to governments and political groups - such as providing 'freelance' diplomats to unrecognised governments Independent Diplomat...
, a lecturer at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University, and a Guest Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). Mr. Jessen-Petersen has had a long and distinguished career in the United Nations. A lawyer and journalist by training, he began his service in 1972 with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Africa. He then held senior positions at UNHCR before opening the UNHCR regional office in Stockholm in 1986. In 1989, he served as Special Adviser to the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, and as a member of the Secretary-General’s Task Force on Namibian independence. Between 1990 and 1993, Mr. Jessen-Petersen served as Chef de Cabinet of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva while also serving as Director of External Relations (1992-1994). Between August 1994 and January 1998 he was Director of the UNHCR Liaison Office at the UN Headquarters in New York, while serving as the High Commissioner’s Special Envoy to the former Yugoslavia, based in Sarajevo (December 1995 and September 1996). Mr. Jessen-Petersen served as Assistant UN High Commissioner for Refugees (January 1998 to December 2001). He then served as the Chairman of the European Union Stability Pact’s Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI), where he initiated and directed a strategy to manage population movements in the Western Balkans. Mr. Jessen-Petersen also chaired the MARRI Steering Committee. His most recent UN assignment was that of Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo and head of UNMIK (August 2004 to July 2006) at the level of UN Under Secretary-General.
He currently resides in Washington, DC with his wife of nineteen years and two of his four children, and is head of the Washington office of Independent Diplomat
Independent Diplomat
Independent Diplomat is a non-profit organisation founded in 2004 by former British diplomat Carne Ross to give advice and assistance in diplomatic strategy and technique to governments and political groups - such as providing 'freelance' diplomats to unrecognised governments Independent Diplomat...
.