Speaker
Tom Koenigs, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Afghanistan
Details
Event Description
Tom Koenigs, former Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General to Afghanistan, presented a public lecture, “The Responsibility to Protect Afghanistan,” on Tuesday, March 4, 2008 at 7:00 p.m. in 016 Robertson Hall on the Princeton University Campus. The event was co-sponsored with the Woodrow Wilson School.
Tom Koenigs served as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from February 2006 to February 2008. Prior to this position, Koenigs was appointed Germany’s Federal Government Commissioner for Human Rights Policy and Humanitarian Aid at the Federal Foreign Office on 1 January 2005. From 2002-2005 he headed the United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala (MINUGUA) as Special Representative of the Secretary-General. The mission was established to monitor the peace agreement signed in 1996 between the former parties to the civil war. Under the agreement, the specially created Truth Commission to address the human rights violations committed during the civil war played a central role. He also worked for the United Nations from 1999 to 2002 as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General of the United Nations in Kosovo, where he was responsible for the general civil administration.
Koenigs studied business administration and worked as an academic tutor for political economics and economic theory at Berlin Free University. He speaks Spanish, English, French, and German.