Diplomacy & Public Service
Peerless
Olara Otunnu
born 1950
Built the UN system that monitors crimes against children in war
Peerless is level 1 of 4 in the Uganda Hall of Fame: changed the field itself. Tell the country's story without them and the story breaks. See how the levels work.
Why they are here
As UN Under-Secretary-General for Children and Armed Conflict he was the architect of Security Council Resolution 1612 — the first international machinery for documenting grave violations against children in war, and naming those responsible.
Olara Otunnu served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict from 1997 to 2005.
He built the international campaign on behalf of children caught in war — their protection during it, and their healing and reintegration afterwards — and was the architect of the compliance regime adopted by the Security Council in Resolution 1612 of 2005, which established comprehensive monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children and the listing of the armed forces and groups responsible. It remains the principal instrument of its kind. He had earlier been Uganda's Permanent Representative to the UN and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
He built the international campaign on behalf of children caught in war — their protection during it, and their healing and reintegration afterwards — and was the architect of the compliance regime adopted by the Security Council in Resolution 1612 of 2005, which established comprehensive monitoring and reporting of grave violations against children and the listing of the armed forces and groups responsible. It remains the principal instrument of its kind. He had earlier been Uganda's Permanent Representative to the UN and Minister of Foreign Affairs.
- Wikipedia — Olara Otunnu
- The EastAfrican — Uganda's Otunnu nomination throws UN top-post race wide open
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