Advisory Board on Human Security

Ambassador Knut Vollebaek is a former Norwegian Ambassador to the United States of America (2001-2007) and former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Norway (1997-2000). Since 2013, he has headed the Norwegian Government’s Commission on Norwegian Travelers and served as a Commissioner on the International Commission of Missing Persons.

During his diplomatic and political career, he has also served as Assistant Secretary General, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1994-1997); Director General, Department of Bilateral Co-operation (1994-1994); Norwegian Ambassador to the Central American States, based in Costa Rica (1991-1993); Deputy Minister (State Secretary) of Foreign Affairs (1989-1990); Director of UN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (1986-1989); Norwegian Delegate to the UN General Assembly (1982-1983 and 1986-1988); and held diplomatic assignments in India, Spain and Zimbabwe.Mr. Vollebaek has also held a number of international positions, including Commissioner of the International Commission on Missing Persons (2013-); Primus inter Pares of the Panel of Eminent Persons on Strengthening of the Effectiveness of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (2005); Chairman-in-Office of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (1999); Chairman of the Council of the Baltic Sea States (1999-2000); and Chairman of the Barents Euro-Arctic Council (1997-1998).

He obtained his M.Sc. in Economics from the Norwegian School of Economics and Business Administration, Bergen in 1972; honorary Doctor of Laws, Honoris Causa, St. Olaf College, Minnesota, USA in 2003; and, honorary Doctor of Humane Letters, Honoris Causa, Concordia College, Minnesota, USA in 2003. He received Commander of the Royal Norwegian Order of St. Olav in 2000 and decorations from Costa Rica, Estonia, France, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Moldova, the Netherlands, and Spain.

María Fernanda Espinosa Garcés served as the President of the seventy-third session of the General Assembly, bringing more than 20 years of multilateral experience in international negotiations, peace, security, defence, disarmament, human rights, indigenous peoples, gender equality, sustainable development, environment, biodiversity, climate change and multilateral cooperation. She has also served Ecuador as Minister of Foreign Affairs (twice), Minister of National Defence, and Coordinating Minister of Natural and Cultural Heritage.

In those capacities she coordinated the Sectorial Council on Foreign Policy and Promotion, which includes the Ministries of Tourism, Culture and Heritage, Foreign Trade, and the Environment. Ms. Espinosa Garcés was Chair of the Group of 77 and China until January 2018, and also served as Chair of the Andean Community. At the fifty-sixth session of the Commission on the Status of Women, she promoted the adoption of the resolution presented by Ecuador entitled “Indigenous women: key actors in poverty and hunger eradication”. She was a chief negotiator at the sixteenth and seventeenth Conferences of the Parties of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and at the Rio+20 United Nations Conference on Sustainable Development, where she facilitated the adoption of key elements in the outcome document entitled “The future we want”.

As Minister of National Defence of Ecuador, Ms. Espinosa Garcés participated in debates on women, peace and security, and promoted the creation of the South American Defence School of the Union of South American Nations, among other initiatives. In 2008, she was the first woman to become Permanent Representative of Ecuador to the United Nations in New York. During that posting, she cofacilitated the Working Group on the revitalization of the work of the General Assembly at its sixty-third session. She also led efforts at the global level towards the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals.

Espinosa Garcés previously served as Permanent Representative to the United Nations in Geneva, Special Adviser to the President of the Constituent Assembly that drafted the Constitution of Ecuador in 2008, and Regional Director (South America) and Adviser on Biodiversity (Geneva) at the International Union for Conservation of Nature. Before beginning her political and diplomatic career, Ms. Espinosa Garcés was Associate Professor and Researcher at the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Sede Ecuador. She has written over 30 academic articles about the Amazon region, culture, heritage, sustainable development, climate change, intellectual property, foreign policy, regional integration, defence and security. She holds a master’s degree in social sciences and Amazonian studies and a postgraduate diploma in anthropology and political science from the Facultad Latinoamericana de Ciencias Sociales Sede Ecuador, as well as a bachelor’s degree in applied linguistics from the Pontificia Universidad Católica del Ecuador.

Ms. Michelle Gyles-McDonnough is the Director, Sustainable Development Unit, Executive Office of the Secretary-General at the United Nations, New York. Throughout her career, Ms. Gyles-McDonnough has practiced privately as a lawyer, served as advisor to the Secretary-General of the Organization of American States

Ms. Gyles-McDonnough has deep development experience within UNDP, including as Chief of UNDP’s sub-regional facility for the Caribbean, UN Resident Coordinator for Barbados and the OECS, Resident Coordinator for Malaysia, Singapore and Brunei Darussalam and as Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director Designate for Asia and the Pacific.

Ms. Gyles-McDonnough holds a law degree from Columbia University School of Law, with honours in international and foreign law, a Masters in Public Administration from the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. She received her undergraduate degree at Bryn Mawr College in Pennsylvania.

Ms. Shuvai Busuman Nyoni is the Executive Director of the African Leadership Centre (ALC), Nairobi, Kenya, and a gender, peace and security practitioner and researcher. The ALC is a research and training initiative that seeks to contribute to Africa’s long term social and economic security and development terrain by training and mentoring the next generation of African leaders as well as through rigorous research and knowledge generation.

Prior to joining the ALC, Ms. Nyoni worked as the Director of Interventions for the Centre for the Study of Violence and Reconciliation (CSVR) in Johannesburg South Africa where she led the CSVR policy engagement with the African Union.

She has worked extensively with a range of regional and national policy makers, civil society actors and academics in post-conflict and transitional countries on the African continent. Through her work Ms. Nyoni has engaged with issues pertaining to post-conflict reconstruction, governance, social and economic justice, transitional justice, reconciliation, and national and community healing. Over the years her work has also involved investigation and documentation of sexual and gender-based violence in conflict settings.

Amy Pope became Director General of the International Organization for Migration (IOM) on 1 October 2023, bringing a wealth of experience in addressing complex migration issues and passion for changing the global narrative about people on the move. She is the first woman to hold the post in IOM’s 73-year history.

In the early part of her five-year term, Ms. Pope put the organization on a new strategic path designed to ensure that IOM can respond to an increasingly complex migration landscape. The new direction enables IOM to help save and protect people on the move today, but also to be proactive about challenges before they become crises.

Building on reforms she began implementing as IOM’s Deputy Director General for Management and Reform, Ms. Pope has also led organizational changes that focus IOM’s structure and resources toward the work its teams do in the field.

Before joining IOM, DG Pope served as the Senior Advisor on Migration to US President Biden and served as the Deputy Homeland Security Advisor to President Obama. While at the White House, Ms. Pope developed and implemented comprehensive strategies to address migration in areas such as countering trafficking in persons, resettling refugees, and vulnerable people, and preparing communities to respond and adapt to climate-related crises.

Ms. Pope has also occupied positions at the US Department of Justice and US Senate and was a Partner in the London-based law firm, Schillings. She graduated magna cum laude from the Duke University School of Law with a Juris Doctor and has a BA in Political Science (with Honors) from Haverford College in Pennsylvania. Ms. Pope is married, with two daughters.

Mr. Achim Steiner became UNDP Administrator on 19 June 2017 and will serve for a term of four years.  Mr. Steiner is also the Vice-Chair of the UN Sustainable Development Group, which unites 40 entities of the UN system that work to support sustainable development. 

Over nearly three decades, Mr. Steiner has been a global leader on sustainable development, climate resilience and international cooperation. He has worked tirelessly to champion sustainability, economic growth and equality for the vulnerable, and has been a vocal advocate for the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Prior to joining UNDP, he was Director of the Oxford Martin School and Professorial Fellow of Balliol College, University of Oxford. Mr. Steiner has served across the United Nations system, looking at global challenges from both a humanitarian and a development perspective. He led the United Nations Environment Programme (2006-2016), helping governments invest in clean technologies and renewable energy. He was also Director-General of the United Nations Office at Nairobi.  

Mr. Steiner graduated in Philosophy, Politics and Economics (MA) from Worcester College, Oxford University and holds an MA from the University of London/School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS). 

Mr.  Yukio Takasu has been appointed by the UN Secretary-General as Special Adviser on Human Security successively since 2010. Mr. Takasu leads the UN’s advocacy efforts on mainstreaming human security, including advancing the implementation of the 2030 Agenda and the Sustainable Development Goals. 

Ambassador Takasu has a long career related to the United Nations activities in the Government of Japan, the United Nations and as an academic. He has held several senior diplomatic positions, including Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations (2007-10), Permanent Representative of Japan to International Organizations in Vienna (2001-05), Director-General of the Multilateral Cooperation Department in Tokyo (2000-01). In this capacity, Mr. Takasu assisted in hosting the G8 Okinawa Summit and he was instrumental in promoting Japan’s initiative for human security and launching the international Commission for Human Security. At the United Nations, he held senior positions, including Assistant Secretary-General, Controller of the United Nations (1993-97) and Under-Secretary-General for Management (2012-2017). 

Mr. Takasu also serves as Chairperson of the Japan Committee for UNICEF and President of the “Human Security Forum”, a Japanese non-profit organization. Mr. Takasu is a visiting professor at Ritsumeikan University, and has held academic positions at Harvard University, the University of Tokyo, and the Graduate University for Policy Studies.  Mr. Takasu was educated at the University of Tokyo (Faculty of Law) and Oxford University (Merton College). Recent publications include “SDGs and Japan—Human Security Index of Japan for leaving no one behind” (in Japanese).