Søren Jessen-Petersen (born 1945) is a Danish lawyer and civil servant. He was named Special Representative of the

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 ...

Secretary-General for

Kosovo Kosovo, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

and head of UNMIK on 16 July 2004. He held the position until the end of June 2006. Jessen-Petersen is currently an adjunct professor of International Relations at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, where he teaches a course titled, "Economic Migrants, Refugees, and Human Security." He is also a Guest Scholar at the United States Institute of Peace (USIP). A lawyer and journalist by training, Jessen-Petersen began his service in the United Nations (UN) in 1972 with the office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Africa. He then held senior positions at UNHCR before opening the UNHCR regional office in Stockholm in 1986. In 1989, he served as Special Adviser to the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs, and as a member of the Secretary-General's Task Force on Namibian independence. Between 1990 and 1993, Jessen-Petersen served as Chef de Cabinet of the High Commissioner for Refugees in Geneva while also serving as Director of External Relations (1992–1994). Between August 1994 and January 1998 he was Director of the UNHCR Liaison Office at the UN Headquarters in New York, while serving as the High Commissioner's Special Envoy to the former Yugoslavia, based in Sarajevo (December 1995 and September 1996). Jessen-Petersen served as Assistant UN High Commissioner for Refugees from January 1998 to December 2001. He then served as the Chairman of the European Union Stability Pact's Migration, Asylum, Refugees Regional Initiative (MARRI), where he initiated and directed a strategy to manage population movements in the Western Balkans. Jessen-Petersen also chaired the MARRI Steering Committee. His most recent UN assignment was that of Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Kosovo and head of UNMIK (August 2004 to July 2006) at the level of UN Under Secretary-General. Jessen-Petersen worked for the diplomatic advisory group Independent Diplomat, founded by Carne Ross, and is the former Director of its Washington office. He currently resides in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, Denmark.

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External links

Søren Jessen-Petersen
at sais-jhu.edu
Søren Jessen-Petersen
at unmikonline.org 1945 births Living people 21st-century Danish diplomats People from Nørresundby United Nations Mission in Kosovo officials Danish officials of the United Nations Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations {{UN-bio-stub