Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir (; born 31 December 1954) is an Icelandic politician from the Social Democratic Alliance who has served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (2007–2009) and leader of the Alliance (2005–2009). She served as representative of UN Women in Afghanistan from 2012 to 2014 and later in Turkey as designated Regional Director for Europe and Central Asia.

Education

Sólrún received her

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Medieval Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six years ...

in history and literature from the

University of Iceland The University of Iceland ( ) is a public research university in Reykjavík, Iceland, and the country's oldest and largest institution of higher education. Founded in 1911, it has grown steadily from a small civil servants' school to a modern co ...

in 1979. She then studied in

Denmark Denmark is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe. It is the metropole and most populous constituent of the Kingdom of Denmark,, . also known as the Danish Realm, a constitutionally unitary state that includes the Autonomous a ...

as a guest student of the post -graduate studies in history at the

University of Copenhagen The University of Copenhagen (, KU) is a public university, public research university in Copenhagen, Copenhagen, Denmark. Founded in 1479, the University of Copenhagen is the second-oldest university in Scandinavia, after Uppsala University. ...

(1979-1981). In 1981, she came back to Iceland where she graduated as a cand.mag. in history from

in 1983. In addition to her native Icelandic, Sólrún speaks English, French and Danish.

Political career

Sólrún started her political career in the Women's List (''Samtök um kvennalista''), a party she had co-founded in 1982 and later represented in Reykjavík's City Council from 1982 to 1988. She also represented the party in Parliament from 1991 to 1994. Sólrún became Mayor of

Reykjavík Reykjavík is the Capital city, capital and largest city in Iceland. It is located in southwestern Iceland on the southern shore of Faxaflói, the Faxaflói Bay. With a latitude of 64°08′ N, the city is List of northernmost items, the worl ...

in 1994 when she led a coalition of four political parties called ''Reykjavíkurlistinn'', winning the elections. She was the city's Mayor until 2003. In 2004 Sólrún took a brief leave from politics and instead attended the European Institute, London School of Economics (LSE) as a visiting scholar. In 2005 Sólrún became the leader of the Social Democratic Alliance (''Samfylkingin''), then the second largest political party in the

Althing The (; ), anglicised as Althingi or Althing, is the Parliamentary sovereignty, supreme Parliament, national parliament of Iceland. It is the oldest surviving parliament in the world. The Althing was founded in 930 at ('Thing (assembly), thing ...

(Iceland's parliament), after a sharply contested election between her and the previous party leader Össur Skarphéðinsson. She has served in this position until 2009. On 24 May 2007, Sólrún was appointed

foreign minister In many countries, the ministry of foreign affairs (abbreviated as MFA or MOFA) is the highest government department exclusively or primarily responsible for the state's foreign policy and relations, diplomacy, bilateral, and multilateral r ...

and served in the office until 1 February 2009.

Later career

On 19 July 2017, Sólrún began her mandate as the Director of OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights, where she succeeded Michael Georg Link. In June 2020, the governments of Tajikistan and Turkey blocked the renewal of Ingibjörg Sólrún's mandate. She subsequently led the OSCE's Observation Mission in the 2020 Ukrainian local elections. In 2021, Sólrún was appointed by

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres (born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who is serving as the ninth and current secretary-general of the United Nations since 2017. A member of the Socialist Party (Portugal), ...

as his new Deputy Special Representative for Political Affairs and Electoral Assistance of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI), under the leadership of Special Representative Jeanine Hennis-Plasschaert. In August 2022, Guterres appointed Sólrún to the United Nations fact-finding mission, led by

Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz Divisional general Carlos Alberto dos Santos Cruz (born 1 June 1952) is a Brazilian military officer who previously held the post of Force Commander of the United Nations' peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (known by its a ...

, regarding the Olenivka prison massacre in Ukraine.

Other activities

* Center for International Peace Operations (ZIF), Member of the International Advisory Board * Nordic Women Mediators (NWM), MemberSecretary-General Appoints Ingibjörg Sólrún Gísladóttir of Iceland Deputy Special Representative for Iraq
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United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

, press release of January 15, 2021.

Personal life

Sólrún was born in Reykjavík on 31 December 1954. She is married to Hjörleifur Sveinbjörnsson, lecturer and translator of Chinese language. They have two sons.

References

External links