Koli Kouame is a former
United Nations civil servant
The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...
from
Côte d’Ivoire
Ivory Coast, also known as Côte d'Ivoire, officially the Republic of Côte d'Ivoire, is a country on the southern coast of West Africa. Its capital is Yamoussoukro, in the centre of the country, while its largest city and economic centre is ...
. He notably served as the Secretary of the
International Narcotics Control Board
The International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) is an independent treaty body, one of the four treaty-mandated bodies under international drug control law (alongside the Commission on Narcotic Drugs, UNODC on behalf of the Secretary-General, an ...
(INCB) between 2004 and 2010. In this position, Mr. Kouame was in charge of the permanent staff in at the INCB in
Vienna (Austria) working on the international drug control treaties.
Career
Kouame holds a Ph.D. in Philosophy from the University of Wisconsin, USA, as well as a master's degree in Applied Social Sciences from the University of Côte d’Ivoire. He is fluent in English, French and several African languages. He is married and has four children.
A veteran staff member of the United Nations, who joined the organization in September 1982 as an Associate Social Affairs Officer, Mr. Kouame worked in all the technical units of the Secretariat of the INCB, rising through the ranks to become Chief of the Narcotics Control Unit in 1992. As Chief of the Narcotics Control Unit, Mr. Kouame worked towards maintaining a balance between the licit supply of and demand for opiate raw materials for medical and scientific needs and was instrumental in initiating informal meetings of the Board with the main States importing and producing opiate raw materials.
Mr. Kouame served as regional director of the
United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC) in India (1995–1997), regional representative in Kenya (1997–1999) before joining peacekeeping missions (
United Nations Transition Assistance Group in Namibia, 1989–1990;
, in 1990). Throughout these demanding assignments in the field, he continued to support the work of the Board. Mr. Kouame then served as Chief of the Africa and the Middle East Section, Partnership in Development Branch, Division for Operations of the
UNODC.
He was then appointed as INCB Secretary on 6 September 2004 by
UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan.
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Kouame, Koli
Living people
Ivorian officials of the United Nations
Year of birth missing (living people)