Jan Eliasson

Jan Eliasson's career joined national diplomacy with humanitarian relief and mediation. He worked with Olof Palme's UN mission during the Iran–Iraq war, served as Sweden's permanent representative at the UN, and became the UN's first under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs. His assignments included Africa and the Balkans and mediation in the Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. He later returned to Stockholm as state secretary for foreign affairs. ¹

Eliasson served as Sweden's ambassador in Washington from 2000 to 2005. The embassy was then preparing the House of Sweden on the Georgetown waterfront: in 2003 he announced that construction of the new chancery would begin. The project brought offices together with public exhibition and meeting space, although the building opened after his departure. ^{1, 2}

As president of the UN General Assembly's sixtieth session, Eliasson led negotiations over the new Human Rights Council. In his account of the process, he described appointing co-chairs from Panama and South Africa, consulting member governments, and bringing the draft to a vote when consensus proved impossible. The Assembly adopted the resolution on 15 March 2006. Eliasson emphasized that establishing the institution was only a first step; its credibility would depend on how governments used it. ³

He also served briefly as Sweden's foreign minister in 2006 and as the UN secretary-general's envoy for Darfur in 2007–2008. In July 2012 he became deputy secretary-general of the United Nations. ¹