Kimmo Kiljunen (born 13 June 1951) is a Finnish author and politician of the

Social Democratic Party The name Social Democratic Party or Social Democrats has been used by many political parties in various countries around the world. Such parties are most commonly aligned to social democracy as their political ideology. Active parties For ...

. He served in the

Finnish parliament The Parliament of Finland ( ; ) is the unicameral and supreme legislature of Finland, founded on 9 May 1906. In accordance with the Constitution of Finland, sovereignty belongs to the people, and that power is vested in the Parliament. The ...

from 1995 to 2011. He was a member of the Parliament's Grand Committee and the Committee for Foreign Affairs. He also served as the chairman of the

Vantaa Vantaa (; sv, Vanda, ) is a city and Municipalities of Finland, municipality in Finland. It is part of the inner core of the Greater Helsinki, Finnish Capital Region along with Helsinki, Espoo, and Kauniainen. With a population of (), Vantaa i ...

city council A municipal council is the legislative body of a municipality or local government area. Depending on the location and classification of the municipality it may be known as a city council, town council, town board, community council, rural counc ...

Education and early career

Kiljunen was born in

Ruokolahti Ruokolahti (; sv, Ruokolax; literally translated the "Reed Bay") is a municipality of Finland, situated in south-eastern Finland, in the region of South Karelia. Neighbouring municipalities are Imatra, Lappeenranta, Taipalsaari, Puumala, Sulkava, ...

. He obtained a PhD from the

University of Sussex , mottoeng = Be Still and Know , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £14.4 million (2020) , budget = £319.6 million (2019–20) , chancellor = Sanjeev Bhaskar , vice_chancellor = Sasha Roseneil , ...

. Early in his career, Kiljunen published books on Finnish politics, international relations and development. He focused on European integration and bringing a parliamentary dimension to the work of intergovernmental organizations. He also worked for the

United Nations Development Programme The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP)french: Programme des Nations unies pour le développement, PNUD is a United Nations agency tasked with helping countries eliminate poverty and achieve sustainable economic growth and human dev ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

and

UNICEF UNICEF (), originally called the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund in full, now officially United Nations Children's Fund, is an agency of the United Nations responsible for providing Humanitarianism, humanitarian and Devel ...

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city proper ha ...

Political career

Kiljunen was a member of the

European Convention Several bodies or treaties are known as European Convention. Bodies of the European Union * European Convention (1999–2000) which drafted the: ** ''Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union'' (2000 / 2009) * Convention on the Future of ...

that drafted a constitution for the EU. He lost in the 2009 elections of the

European Parliament The European Parliament (EP) is one of the legislative bodies of the European Union and one of its seven institutions. Together with the Council of the European Union (known as the Council and informally as the Council of Ministers), it adopts ...

. Kiljunen was a member and vice-chair of the

Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly The Parliamentary Assembly of the OSCE (OSCE PA) is an institution of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe. The primary task of the 323-member Assembly is to facilitate inter-parliamentary dialogue, an important aspect of the o ...

and led election observation missions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. In 2010, he was in charge of the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the Events in southern Kyrgyzstan, established after the President of the Kyrgyz Republic

Roza Otunbayeva Roza Isakovna Otunbayeva (Kyrgyz: Роза Исаковна (Исак кызы) Отунбаева, Roza Isakovna (Isak kyzy) Otunbayeva; born August 23, 1950) is a Kyrgyz diplomat and politician who served as the President of Kyrgyzstan from 7 A ...

asked him, as Special Representative for Central Asia of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, to coordinate the process to establish it. After broad consultation the terms of reference were established and endorsed. The KIC was mandated to investigate the facts and circumstances relevant to incidents that took place in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010, qualify the violations and crimes under international law, determine responsibilities and make recommendations, particularly on accountability measures, so as to ensure the non-repetition of the violations and to contribute toward peace, stability and reconciliation. After publication of the report's findings, the Kyrgyz parliament announced Kiljunen as

persona non grata In diplomacy, a ' (Latin: "person not welcome", plural: ') is a status applied by a host country to foreign diplomats to remove their protection of diplomatic immunity from arrest and other types of prosecution. Diplomacy Under Article 9 of the ...

. In addition to his role in parliament, Kiljunen has been chairing the Finnish delegation to the

Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe The Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE) is the parliamentary arm of the Council of Europe, a 46-nation international organisation dedicated to upholding human rights, democracy and the rule of law. The Assembly is made up o ...

since 2019. As member of the

Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group The Socialists, Democrats and Greens Group (french: Groupe Socialiste, SOC) is a primarily social-democratic political grouping in the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe. It was known as the Socialist Group prior to August 2017. The g ...

, he serves on the Committee on Political Affairs and Democracy; the Committee on the Honouring of Obligations and Commitments by

Member States of the Council of Europe The Council of Europe was founded on 5 May 1949 by ten western and northern European states, with Greece joining three months later, and Iceland, Turkey and West Germany joining the next year. It now has 46 member states, with Montenegro being t ...

(Monitoring Committee); the Sub-Committee on External Relations; and the Sub-Committee on Conflicts between Council of Europe Member States. In the latter capacity, he is the Assembly's

rapporteur A rapporteur is a person who is appointed by an organization to report on the proceedings of its meetings. The term is a French-derived word. For example, Dick Marty was appointed ''rapporteur'' by the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Euro ...

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ''Ox ...

. Kiljunen is a member of the

AWEPA The Association of European Parliamentarians with Africa (AWEPA) is an international parliamentary association that is strictly non-partisan, founded by European parliamentarians in 1984. In cooperation with African parliaments, AWEPA works to st ...

Governing Council.

Personal life

Kiljunen married

ambassador An ambassador is an official envoy, especially a high-ranking diplomat who represents a state and is usually accredited to another sovereign state or to an international organization as the resident representative of their own government or sov ...

Marja-Liisa Kiljunen Marja-Liisa Kiljunen is a Finnish diplomat. She has been Finnish Ambassador to Lithuania and Belarus from 2008 to 2012. Prior to that, she served as a circulating ambassador from Helsinki in 2004 to Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenista ...

in 1972. They filed for divorce on 21 October 2008. They raised two daughters, Rauha and Riikka and two sons, Veikko and Jaakko.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kiljunen, Kimmo 1951 births Living people People from Ruokolahti Social Democratic Party of Finland politicians Members of the Parliament of Finland (1995–99) Members of the Parliament of Finland (1999–2003) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2003–07) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2007–11) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2011–15) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2019–23) Members of the Parliament of Finland (2023–27) Alumni of the University of Sussex