United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Mari Yamashita of Japan as the Deputy Head of Mission of the United Nations Mission to support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA).

Ms. Yamashita succeeds Vivian van der Perre of the Netherlands who was appointed as Deputy Special Representative for Protection and Operations in the United Nations Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Ms. Yamashita brings to the position a broad range of experience with the United Nations based on a career spanning over 30 years working on preventive diplomacy, peacebuilding and external relations both at United Nations Headquarters and globally.  Since December 2020, she has been the Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office
in Belgrade. 

Among various senior-level positions, she also served as the Deputy Director of the Asia Pacific Division of the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations, as Deputy Head and Director of the Peacebuilding Support Office, Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Tokyo and as External Relations Adviser in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General.  Ms. Yamashita also held leadership positions in the field, including assignments with the United Nations Mission in Nepal, United Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium and the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe-United Nations Joint Operation in Armenia.

Ms. Yamashita holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Sophia University (Jochi Daigaku) in Japan and a Master of Arts degree in Law and Diplomacy from The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University in the United States.  She speaks English, Finnish, French, German and Japanese.