Sadako Ogata, first female UN refugee chief, dies at 92
TOKYO (AFP) — Japan’s Sadako Ogata, the first woman to head the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR, has died at the age of 92, Japan’s foreign aid agency said Tuesday.
Ogata was widely respected for her efforts to help refugees and internally displaced people around the world and emphasized making visits to conflict zones during her tenure from 1991-2002.
She worked to help Kurdish refugees from Iraq after the Gulf War, and was also known for tackling crises in Rwanda, Zaire, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia.
She was credited with re-establishing UNHCR’s credibility and was even touted as a potential successor to former UN chief Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali.
Petite and with a calm demeanour, she won special praise for her tough action in former Yugoslavia where she managed to draw the world’s attention to humanitarian issues despite bitter political disputes among Western countries.
She also served as the head of Japan’s International Cooperation Agency (JICA) from 2003 through 2012.
“I have seen with my own eyes the despair in the eyes of people who have lost everything, whose loved ones have been killed, whose houses and livelihoods have been destroyed, and who have been forced to flee in the middle of the night with nothing but the clothes on their backs,” she said in a speech in 2000.
“But I have also witnessed the courage and resilience of so many people who have lost everything but hope. Refugees are the great survivors of our times and they deserve our respect and our solidarity.”
Ogata died on Oct. 22, but her death was only announced publicly on Tuesday.