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SHASHI THAROOR
Under-Secretary-General for Communications and Public Information
 Shashi Tharoor is Under-Secretary-General for Communications
and Public Information and has led the Department of Public Information (DPI) since January 2001. In this capacity, he is in charge of the Organization’s communications strategy, with particular responsibility for ensuring the coherence and effectiveness of the United Nations’ external message.
Prior to joining DPI, Mr. Tharoor served as Director of Communications and Special Projects in the Office of the Secretary-General and as Executive Assistant to the Secretary-General (1997–2001). As Special Assistant to the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations (1989-1996), he assisted two successive heads of United Nations peacekeeping operations in managing the challenges of unprecedented growth and evolution in peacekeeping at the end of the cold war. From 1991 to 1996, he led the team in the Department of Peacekeeping Operations responsible for the United Nations peacekeeping operations in the former Yugoslavia. In 2003, the Secretary-General appointed him United Nations Coordinator for Multilingualism.
Mr. Tharoor's United Nations career began in 1978 on the staff of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva. He was Head of the UNHCR office in Singapore (1981-1984) during the peak of the Vietnamese "boat people" crisis.
Mr. Tharoor is also the author of nine books, as well as numerous articles, op-eds and literary reviews in a wide range of publications. He is also the recipient of several journalism and literary awards, including a Commonwealth Writers' Prize.
In January 1998, Mr. Tharoor was named by the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, as a “Global Leader of Tomorrow”. Mr. Tharoor is an elected Fellow of the New York Institute of the Humanities and a member of the Advisory Board of the Indo-American Arts Council.
Born in London in 1956, Mr. Tharoor was educated in India and the United States, completing a Ph.D in 1978 at the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University, where he also earned two Master’s degrees. He was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Letters in International Affairs by the University of Puget Sound, United States.
Shashi Tharoor is a national of India. He is the father of twin sons.
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