EuropaWorld 15/12/2000 Sadako Ogata

Sadako Ogata was born in Tokyo, Japan on 16 September 1927. From an early age she was fascinated by international issues. After completing her first degree in Tokyo she moved to America to begin what was to become a long and distinguished academic career.

She proved to be an outstanding teacher and student, receiving a PhD in Political Science from the University of California before returning to Tokyo, to become an Associate Professor. In 1976, she left academia to devote her attention to active involvement in international affairs, returning in 1980 to Sophia University in Tokyo where she became Dean of the Faculty of Foreign Studies. Her contribution to modern international humanitarian scholarship was by no means over when she left Sophia University in 1991- she has continued to publish numerous books and articles and has been awarded 13 honorary degrees from universities around the world.

Mrs Ogata's expertise on international diplomacy naturally led her in 1976, to the Japanese mission to the United Nations, first as Minister and then as Extraordinary Envoy. Her long-held commitment to humanitarian issues and the ideals of the United Nations (UN) was soon put into practice when she became Chairman of the Executive Board of the UN Children's Fund and later the Representative of Japan on the UN Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR). With her acute insight into the human rights situation in South East Asia she became in 1990, the Independent Expert of the UNCHR on the Human Rights Situation In Myanmar.

Aged 63, and with an extraordinary career already behind her, Mrs Ogata was to face her toughest challenge yet - on 21 December 1990, the UN General Assembly elected her to one of the most difficult and crucial jobs on the international humanitarian stage, the High Commissioner for Refugees.

Mrs Ogata came to the helm of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) on 1 January 1991 and within days, the agency was embroiled with the aftermath of the Gulf War. Over 400,000 Kurds were trapped in Northern Iraq and UNHCR found itself with a dilemma it had never faced before - as the Kurds were unable to leave their country, they were not technically refugees and fell outside UNHCR's mandate. But the international community needed UNHCR's urgent humanitarian help and Mrs Ogata took one of the most important decisions of her life and agreed to assist. She said she took this 'common sense' decision because of her unwavering belief that "The bottom line should always be the welfare and safety of a refugee".

Mrs Ogata saw this belief tested again and again. Her leadership of UNHCR coincided with one of the most turbulent periods in its history, including such major emergencies as the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, the Rwandan genocide, the Kosovo conflict, and the crisis in Timor. Throughout all these crises she stressed the need for quick international responses to the urgent needs of the world's displaced people, stating "principles are fine, but there's something more important than a principle and that is saving lives".

On December 14 2000, Mrs Ogata handed over the High Commissioner's mantle to her successor, Ruud Lubbers.

She now intends to have a "good rest" before writing a book about her experiences as High Commissioner in a decade of vast international political and humanitarian change.

And her legacy? "That we were there. That we stayed the course in emergencies. And we did make a difference in the lives of millions of people."

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