Sérgio Vieira de Mello

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Sérgio Vieira de Mello (March 15, 1948 – August 19, 2003) was a Brazilian United Nations (UN) diplomat who worked for the UN for over 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN. He was killed in the Canal Hotel Bombing in Iraq along with other members of his staff, on the afternoon of August 19, 2003.

1 Biography
2 Books
3 External links
- 3.1 Interviews

[edit] Biography

The son of a diplomat, Vieira de Mello was born in Rio de Janeiro and joined the UN in 1969 while studying philosophy and humanities at the Sorbonne University of Paris. He received two doctorate degrees from the Sorbonne (1985). He was fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and conversational Arabic, as well as his native Portuguese.

He began his U.N. career as an official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva in 1969. He worked with refugees in Bangladesh during its independence in 1971 and in Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion.

He spent three years in charge of UNHCR operations in Mozambique during the civil war that followed its independence from Portugal in 1975, and three more in Peru. Vieira de Mello also served as Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for Cambodia, being the first and only UN Representative to hold talks with the Khmer Rouge. He became senior political adviser to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon between 1981 and 1983.

The early 1990s found him in involved in the clearing of land mines in Cambodia, and then in Yugoslavia. After working on the refugee problem in central Africa, he was made Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees in 1996 and he became UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator two years later. He would hold this position simultaneously with others until January 2001. He was a special UN envoy in Kosovo after the end of Serbian control of the former Yugoslav province in 1999. Vieira de Mello was instrumental in dealing with the issue of boat people in Hong Kong. In mid-2000, he visited Fiji together with Don McKinnon, the Commonwealth of Nations' Secretary-General, in an attempt to assist in finding a negotiated settlement to the hostage situation, in which Fiji's Prime Minister and other members of Parliament were kidnapped and held as hostages during the 2000 Fijian coup d'état. [1]

Before becoming the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2002, he was the UN Transitional Administrator in East Timor from December 1999 to May 2002, guiding that former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia to independence. He was also special representative in Kosovo for an initial period of two months and was the coordinator of humanitarian operations at UN headquarters.

In May 2003 Vieira de Mello was appointed as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Iraq, an appointment initially intended to last for four months. According to New York Times Magazine journalist James Traub in his book The Best Intentions, Vieira de Mello had originally turned down the appointment before being persuaded by Condoleezza Rice and President George W. Bush. He had been working in this position when he was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing.

He was mentioned in some circles as a suitable candidate for UN Secretary General. His death was widely mourned, largely on account of his reputation for effective work to promote peace. Vieira de Mello was survived by his wife and two sons. He was buried at the Cimetière des Rois in Geneva, Switzerland.

In April 2004, Sérgio Vieira de Mello was posthumously awarded the 'Statesman of the Year Award' by the EastWest Institute [2], a Transatlantic think tank that organizes an annual Security Conference in Brussels [3].

Mr. de Mello's legacy is truly hard to overestimate. He founded two large, important, similarly-titled Human Rights Agencies: UNHRP [United Nations Housing Rights Programme] and UNHREP [United Nations Human Rights Educational Project]. The former is currently a part of UN-Habitat Settlements Programme headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya [Executive Director Ms. Anna Tibaijuka]. The latter is a large Project of independent standing, headquartered in Hamilton, New Zealand [Executive Manager Mr. Igor Dubenco]. Both Initiatives are hailed as important achievements in the Human Rights area.

The goal of UNHREP "is to set up an educational facility for teaching Human Rights from a variety of angles. And that is just a start. The school will then be further developed to include subjects of international relations, conflict resolution, diplomacy and diplomatic etiquette" [4].

According to the UN-Habitat Settlements Programme [5], "The development objective of the UNHRP is to assist States and other stakeholders with the implementation of their commitments in the Habitat Agenda to ensure the full and progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing as provided for in international instruments."

[edit] Books

Jean-Claude Buhrer et Claude B. Levenson, Sergio Vieira de Mello, un espoir foudroyé. – Paris : Mille et une nuits, 2004. – 199 p., 20 cm. – ISBN 2-84205-826-7 .
George Gordon-Lennox et Annick Stevenson, Sergio Vieira de Mello : un homme exceptionnel. – Genève : Éditions du Tricorne, 2004. – 143 p., 25 cm. – ISBN 2-8293-0266-4. – En appendice, choix de textes de Sergio Vieira de Mello.
Jacques Marcovitch - USP - Sérgio Vieira de Mello - pensamento e memória. 1 Edição | 2004 | Brochura 344p. | Cód.: 167075 | ISBN: 853140867 (pt)
Samantha Power, The Man for Dark Times: Sergio Vieira de Mello and the Fight to Save the World, (Hardcover - Aug 16, 2007).

[edit] External links

[edit] Interviews

Preceded by Yasushi Akashi (Japan)	Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator 1998–2001	Succeeded by Kenzo Oshima (Japan)
Preceded by Mary Robinson (1997-2002)	UN High Commissioner for Human Rights 2002–2003	Succeeded by Bertrand Ramcharan (2003-2004) Louise Arbour (2004)

Preceded by Nicolau dos Reis Lobato (nominal President of East Timor) 1978	UN Administrator for East Timor 1999-2002	Succeeded by Xanana Gusmão as President of East Timor