Sohini, Aditi set for US mission in UN

THE Biden administration has appointed two Indian-American expertsSohini Chatterjee and Aditi Gorur to key diplomatic positions at the US Mission to the United Nations.

Chatterjee will serve as a senior policy advisor to the US Ambassador to the UN, while Gorur has been appointed as policy advisor at the mission, according to the official statement.

An expert on global development, conflict, and mass atrocities, Chatterjee till recently taught as an adjunct professor at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs. She previously worked in the Bureau for Policy, Planning and Learning at the US Agency for International Development (USAID).

Chatterjee had said, ‘Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi - in 2021 - should work with the Biden administration to develop a more sustainable alliance - one that will work towards countering violent extremism; boosting trade cooperation bilaterally and in the region; and battling global climate change.’

‘Climate change will disproportionately affect the poorest in India and in the US. Left unabated, it will have devastating public health consequences and lead to catastrophic natural disasters in the coming decade,’ she said.

‘Both countries have an opportunity to not be short-sighted but rather to look thoughtfully at the glaring and imminent transboundary threats of the next decade and work together to mitigate them. Both democracies should also use this new era in US leadership to jointly and individually champion democratic principles in the multilateral community,’ she said.

Gorur is an expert on UN peacekeeping. Till recently she was a senior fellow and director of the Protecting Civilians in Conflict Programme at the Stimson Center. Her primary research focus is on preventing and responding to violence against civilians, particularly in the context of peacekeeping operations.

Before joining Stimson, Gorur worked with the Indian Institute for Human Settlements in India, the Asia Foundation and the Center for Liberty in the Middle East in Washington, DC, and the Melbourne University Law School in Australia.