Former senior UN refugee official Sadako Ogata dies
TOKYO — Sadako Ogata, who led the U.N. refugee agency for a decade and became one of the first Japanese to hold a top job at an international organization, has died. She was 92.
The government-funded Japan International Cooperation Agency, where she last served, said Tuesday that Ogata died on Oct. 22, but the cause was not disclosed.
Ogata, born on Sept. 16, 1927, was the great-granddaughter of former Prime Minister Tsuyoshi Inukai, who was assassinated by navy officers in 1932 as he tried to stop Japan’s military aggression in China, and the granddaughter of former foreign minister Kenkichi Yoshizawa. She spent much of her childhood in China and the U.S., where she earned a doctoral degree in political science from the University of California, Berkeley, and a master’s degree at Georgetown University.
She chose, however, to become an academic and diplomat instead of following her family into politics. After teaching at Tokyo’s Sophia
University, Ogata in 1979 became the first Japanese woman to represent her country at the United Nations. She served on the U.N. Human Rights Commission from 1982 to 1985 and then as U.N. high commissioner for refugees from 1991 to 2000.
A person with strong principles, she visited more than 40 countries as high commissioner, often clad in a bulletproof jacket and helmet, to personally witness people’s plight. She made numerous visits to refugee camps for Kurdish people who fled Iraq after the Gulf War.
“I have to be on the ground and see how people flee or how those displaced suffer even after returning home. Without seeing the situation, I cannot give instructions to my staff,” Ogata said in a 1989 interview with Japanese public broadcaster NHK.
Outside her career, Ogata married a Japanese central banker and raised a son and daughter. She remained an avid tennis player throughout her life, continuing to play until a few years ago.
Ogata also served as president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency from 2003 to 2012.