On 8 May 2017, the Secretary-General reappointed Mr. Yukio Takasu as Special Adviser on Human Security. From April 2012 to May 2017, he served as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Management. He was previously appointed as Special Adviser to the Secretary-General on Human Security in December 2010 by then Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. As a diplomat, Mr. Takasu has worked to advance the notion of human security in the United Nations and amongst Member States. While serving as Director-General for Japan’s Department of Multilateral Cooperation in 2000, he supported the activities of the Commission on Human Security, co-chaired by Mrs. Sadako Ogata and Professor Amartya Sen. In 2006, as the Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations, he initiated the formation of the informal Friends of Human Security group. These efforts, combined with those of other Member States, culminated in the formal meeting of the General Assembly plenary on human security in May 2010 and the consensus resolution 66/290 on human security at the GA in 2012.
Mr. Takasu has held a wide range of positions at the United Nations including as Controller at the Assistant Secretary-General level and Member of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). He also has nearly 40 years of experience in multilateral diplomacy, notably as Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations in New York; Ambassador, Embassy of Japan, Washington; Ambassador, Scientific Cooperation, Human Security and United Nations Reform, Tokyo; and Permanent Representative of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).