Angela Kane: Difference between revisions

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Angela Kane (born 1948 in Hamelin, Lower Saxony, Germany) was formerly the UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs and ^[1] Under-Secretary-General for Management in the United Nations.

She holds degrees from Bryn Mawr College and the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies. She was awarded an honorary doctorate from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in Monterey, California.^[2]

Kane has served in many positions during her career at the United Nations. She was named as new UN High Representative for Disarmament Affairs on 8 March 2012, replacing Sergio de Queiroz Duarte. She was responsible for negotiating and conducting the chemical weapons investigation in Syria in 2013 which led to Syria joining the Chemical Weapons Convention and the dismantlement of its declared chemical weapons stocks. Between May 2008 and 2012, she was Under-Secretary-General for Management, responsible for a $11 billion annual budget, plus $2 billion for the renovation of the New York campus, and oversaw the management of >50,000 staff worldwide.

She served twice in the Department for Political Affairs, as Assistant Secretary-General ^[3] and previously as Director, focusing on preventing and resolving conflicts. In the latter capacity, she was in charge of the divisions dealing with the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East, as well as decolonization, and the division for Palestinian Rights. She supported several special political missions in Iraq, Nepal and the Middle East, and established the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala, which was unprecedented among UN or other international efforts to promote accountability and strengthen the rule of law.

She also served as Assistant Secretary-General for General Assembly and Conference Management,^[4] where she concentrated on the implementation of reform initiatives, integrated global management, the use of information technology tools and the re-positioning of the Department as a proactive and efficient service provider.

From 1995 to 1999, Kane held a managerial position in the Department of Public Information, where she was responsible for United Nations publications. In this capacity, she launched the UN website in all official UN languages and administered the putting in place of the online documentation system through the UN website.

She has also held a number of other positions at the United Nations, including Principal Officer for Political Affairs in the Office of former Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali and as political adviser to the Personal Representative of the Secretary-General for the Central American Peace Process to end the conflict in El Salvador. Additionally, she has worked in several UN missions including as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General United Nations Mission in Ethiopia and Eritrea (UNMEE),^[5] as well as in Jakarta, Indonesia, and Bangkok, Thailand.

Before she joined the UN Secretariat, she worked for the World Bank in Washington, D.C. and for the private sector in Europe.

As of 2016, Kane teaches at Sciences Po Paris School of International Affairs on disarmament issues.^[6] She is also a Senior Fellow at the Vienna Center for Disarmament and Non-Proliferation.^[7] and she is the Vice President of the International Institute for Peace in Vienna ^[8] In 2015, she received the Order of Merit of Germany (Grosses Verdienstkreuz).^[9] In 2016 she also received the Grand Decoration of Honour in Gold with Star High award from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Austria.

In April 2016, Kane was appointed by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and Director-General Irina Bokova of the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) to the governing council of the United Nations University.^[10] In 2019, she was appointed Chair of the UNU Council ^[11] Also in 2016, Kane received the Dag Hammarskjöld Medal ^[12] from then Foreign Minister Steinmeier.

In addition, Kane holds various positions, including the following:

• World Economic Forum (WEF), Co-Chair of the Regional Future Council on the Korean Peninsula^[13]
• European Leadership Network, Member^[14]
• Group of Eminent Persons (GEM), Comprehensive Nuclear-Test-Ban Treaty (CTBTO), Member^[15]
• Dialogue Advisory Group, Director of the Advisory Board ^[16]
• International Institute for Peace (IIP), Vice President
• Security Council Report, Member of the Advisory Board ^[17]
• Bonn International Center for Conversion (BICC), Member of the International Board ^[18]
• Paris School of International Affairs (PSIA), Member of the Strategic Committee^[19]
• Foreign Policy Association, Advisory Fellow

Angela Kane was married to the Dutch diplomat Herman Knippenberg, who was attached to the Dutch embassy in Bangkok in the mid-seventies at the time when the French serial killer Charles Sobhraj was on his killing spree (1975-76) in Thailand and Nepal. The couple were the first to investigate Sobhraj's crimes, eventually building up a substantial body of knowledge which was eventually handed over to Interpol and which played a critical role in the subsequent arrest and conviction of Sobhraj and his partner Marie-Andree Leclerc.

Kane has stated that the Sobhraj case took a toll on her marriage, eventually leading to her separation from Knippenberg. She was portrayed by the actress Ellie Bamber in the BBC serial on Sobhraj titled The Serpent which was broadcast in 2020/21.^[20]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Angela Kane.

• "Secretary-General appoints Angela Kane of Germany USG for Management, Alicia Barcena Ibarra of Mexico executive Secretary of ECLAC (SG/A/1135)" (Press release). United Nations. 2008-05-13. Retrieved 2011-04-11.
• http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=41489&Cr=ban+ki-moon&Cr1=appoint