Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Shigeru Mochida of Japan Deputy Special Representative

 

for Security Sector Support and Rule of Law in Timor-Leste

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Shigeru Mochida of Japan as his Deputy Special Representative for Security Sector Support and Rule of Law for the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).

He succeeds the late Takahisa Kawakami, also of Japan, who passed away on 15 March.  The Secretary-General is grateful for the late Mr. Kawakami’s dedicated and excellent leadership during his service with UNMIT and in his prior United Nations assignments at Headquarters and in the field.

Mr. Mochida has served the United Nations with commitment over the past 30 years in various capacities, and brings to UNMIT extensive management and operational experience, including in the political, security and conflict-resolution areas.  Most recently he was Deputy Executive Secretary of the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) in Bangkok since 2005, and before that, he served as Deputy Director of the Africa I Division in the Department of Political Affairs at Headquarters in New York from 2000 to 2005.

He was leader of the Horn of Africa Team in the Africa I Division between 1994 and 2000, and Officer-in-Charge of the Branch for Peaceful Settlement Procedures in Africa from 1992 to 1994.  Between 1988 and 1992, Mr. Mochida was Desk Officer for Asia and the Middle East in the Office for Research and the Collection of Information in the Office of the Secretary-General.

Mr. Mochida began his career in Japan’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where he initially served as an Attaché in the Political Affairs Division of the United Nations Bureau (1975-1976), and then as Liaison Officer in the Security Affairs Division of the American Affairs Bureau (1978-1980).

He earned a master’s degree in public affairs from Princeton University’s Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs in the United States, and a Bachelor of Arts degree from Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo.

Born in Japan in 1952, he is married.

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For information media • not an official record