Jan Kenneth Eliasson (born 17 September 1940) is a Swedish diplomat with connections to the Social Democratic party. He is the former President of the United Nations General Assembly and was Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs since April 24, 2006 until October 6 2006. He is currently the United Nations Secretary General Special Envoy to Darfur, Sudan.
Biography
Jan Eliasson was born in a working-class family in Gothenburg. He was an AFS exchange student in Indiana 1957-1958 and graduated from the Swedish Naval Academy in 1962. In 1965 he earned a Master's degree in Economics from the Gothenburg School of Economics and Commercial Law. He also holds honorary degrees from American University (1994), Gothenburg University (2001) and Uppsala University (2005). Eliasson has authored and co-authored numerous books and articles and is a frequent lecturer on foreign policy and diplomacy. Since 1988 he has been a visiting lecturer on mediation, conflict resolution and UN reform at Uppsala University. Eliasson started his diplomatic career in 1965, when he was employed at the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 1982-1983 he served as Diplomatic Advisor to the Swedish Prime Minister Olof Palme, and 1983-1987 as Director General for Political Affairs in the Ministry for Foreign Affairs. 1980-1986 Eliasson was part of the U.N. mission, mediating in the Iran-Iraq War. 1988-1992 he served as Sweden's Ambassador to the United Nations in New York, where he also served as the Secretary General's Personal Representative on Iran/Iraq. In 1991 Eliasson was Chairman of the U.N. General Assembly's working group on emergency relief and Vice President of the ECOSOC 1991-1992. In 1992 he was appointed the first Under Secretary General for Humanitarian Affairs of the U.N. He was involved in operations in Somalia, Sudan, Mozambique and the Balkans. He also took initiatives on issues such as land mines, prevention and humanitarian action. 1994-1999 Eliasson served as State Secretary of the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs. From 2000 to 2005 he served as Sweden's Ambassador to Washington, D.C., United States. On June 13, 2005, he was unanimously elected President of the United Nations General Assembly, for its sixtieth session. He took over the presidency on September 13, 2005, during the U.N. High-Level Plenary Meeting and will lead its work during the coming year, when reform issues will be in focus. He was announced the successor of Laila Freivalds as Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs at a press conference on March 27, 2006. After the Swedish General Elections in 2006 when his party lost the election, he announced that he will teach at Uppsala Universitet. In December 2006 former United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan announced Eliasson as special envoy to Sudan. Jan is an honorary member of his hometown football team GAIS, for which he played during several years in his youth.
External links
- Biography at the Embassy of Sweden
- Jan Eliasson elected President of the UN General Assembly - press release from the Swedish Ministry for Foreign Affairs
- President of the sixtieth session of the United Nations General Assembly
- Speech by Jan Eliasson to the U.N. General Assembly
| Preceded by None |
U.N. Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator 1992–1994 |
Succeeded by Peter Hansen (Denmark) |
| Preceded by Lars-Åke Nilsson |
State Secretary for Foreign Affairs 1994–1999 |
Succeeded by Hans Dahlgren |
| Preceded by Jean Ping |
President of the United Nations General Assembly 2005–2006 |
Succeeded by Haya Rashed Al-Khalifa |
| Preceded by Laila Freivalds |
Swedish Minister for Foreign Affairs 2006 |
Succeeded by Carl Bildt |
