Sérgio Vieira de Mello

Sérgio Vieira de Mello (March 15, 1948 – August 19, 2003) was a Brazilian United Nations (UN) diplomat who worked for the UN for over 34 years, earning respect and praise around the world for his efforts in the humanitarian and political programs of the UN.

Son of a diplomat, Vieira de Mello was born in Rio de Janeiro and joined the UN in 1969 while studying philosophy and humanities at the Sorbonne University of Paris. He received two doctorate degrees from the Sorbonne (1985). He was fluent in English, Spanish, Italian, French, and conversational Arabic, as well as his native Portuguese.

He began his U.N. career as an official of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva in 1969. He worked with refugees in Bangladesh during its independence in 1971 and in Cyprus after the 1974 Turkish invasion.

He spent three years in charge of UNHCR operations in Mozambique during the civil war that followed its independence from Portugal in 1975, and three more in Peru. Vieira de Mello also served as Special Envoy for the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for Cambodia, being the first and only UN Representative to hold talks with the Khmer Rouge. He became senior political adviser to the U.N. Interim Force in Lebanon between 1981 and 1983.

The early 1990s found him in involved in the clearing of land mines in Cambodia, and then in Yugoslavia. After working on the refugee problem in central Africa, he was made Assistant High Commissioner for Refugees in 1996 and he became UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator two years later. He would hold this position simultaneously with others until January 2001. He was a special UN envoy in Kosovo after the end of Serbian control of the former Yugoslav province in 1999. Vieira de Mello was instrumental in dealing with the issue of boat people in Hong Kong.

Before becoming the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2002, he was the UN Transitional Administrator in East Timor from December 1999 to May 2002, guiding that former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia to independence. He was also special representative in Kosovo for an initial period of two months and was the coordinator of humanitarian operations at UN headquarters.

In May 2003 Vieira de Mello was appointed as the UN Special Representative in Iraq, an appointment initially intended to last for four months. He had been working in this position when he was killed in the Canal Hotel bombing on the afternoon of August 19, 2003.

He was mentioned in some circles as a suitable candidate for UN Secretary General. His death was widely mourned, largely on account of his reputation for effective work to promote peace. Vieira de Mello was survived by his wife and two sons. He was buried at the Cimetière des Rois in Geneva, Switzerland.

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