Major General Juha Kilpiä (born in 1953), a native of

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

, served as Head of Mission and Chief of Staff of the

United Nations Truce Supervision Organization The United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO) is an organization founded on 29 May 1948 for peacekeeping in the Middle East. Established amidst the 1948 Arab–Israeli War, its primary task was initially to provide the military com ...

(UNTSO). He was appointed to this position by the

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

Ban Ki-moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

on 25 March 2011. Prior to his appointment to UNTSO, Major General Kilpiä served as Chief of Staff of the Army Command Finland from 2009 to 2011, and as the Military Representative of Finland to the European Union and the

North Atlantic Treaty Organization The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO, ; french: Organisation du traité de l'Atlantique nord, ), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental military alliance between 30 member states – 28 European and two No ...

(NATO) in Brussels prior to that. He has also collected extensive experience through a number of posts he held in UN peacekeeping missions. He was the Chief of Operations in United Nations peacekeeping operations, the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) in 1991. In 1993, he was the Chief of the United Nations Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), where he worked closely with UNTSO Military Observers. Major General Kilpiä attended the Finnish War College from 1985 to 1987. He also took a number of other programmes at the United Nations, the NATO School in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

and the NATO Defense College in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. Major General Kilpiä is married with one daughter.

External links

United Nations Press Release
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kilpia, Juha 1953 births Living people Finnish military personnel United Nations military personnel Finnish officials of the United Nations