Anders B. Johnsson
Encyclopedia
Anders B. Johnsson is a Swedish
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....

 jurist, the current Secretary General of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU).

Biography

Johnsson was born in Lund
Lund
-Main sights:During the 12th and 13th centuries, when the town was the seat of the archbishop, many churches and monasteries were built. At its peak, Lund had 27 churches, but most of them were demolished as result of the Reformation in 1536. Several medieval buildings remain, including Lund...

, Sweden. He holds a Bachelor of Law degree from Lund University
Lund University
Lund University , located in the city of Lund in the province of Scania, Sweden, is one of northern Europe's most prestigious universities and one of Scandinavia's largest institutions for education and research, frequently ranked among the world's top 100 universities...

, has studied European law and integration in Bruges
Bruges
Bruges is the capital and largest city of the province of West Flanders in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is located in the northwest of the country....

, Belgium, and holds a Master of Comparative Law degree from New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...

.

He worked for over 15 years at the Office of United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees , also known as The UN Refugee Agency is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to...

(UNHCR) where he held senior positions in Honduras, Pakistan, Sudan and Viet Nam. He also served as Senior Legal Adviser to the High Commissioner at the UNHCR Headquarters.

Johnsson joined the IPU in 1991 where he directed the development of the IPU's program on strengthening parliaments and promoting democracy. He was Deputy Secretary General and Legal Adviser from 1994 to 1998 and Assistant Secretary General from 1991 to 1994.

He was elected IPU Secretary General in 1998 for an initial four year mandate and has since been re-elected three times. Johnsson is the IPU's seventh Secretary General from the organization's founding in 1889.

Johnsson's fields of expertise include international law and organisation, refugee law and human rights, and parliamentary diplomacy. He has authored several papers and articles on those matters.

On the 28th of July 2011 the Congress of the State of Chiapas, Mexico, bestowed the Medal "Fray Matías de Cordoba" to Anders B. Johnsson in recognition of his work to stengthen parliaments, human rights, gender equality, and the promotion of democracy. This was partly in recognition of the IPU conference held in Chiapas on 3 November 2010 on "Parliaments, Minorities and Indigenous Populations, towards effective political participation" which resulted in the "Chiapas declaration" on stengthening involvement of minorities in parliamentary politics.

Johnsson is married to a Mexican writer. They share three children.

External links

Interview with Anders B. Johnsson in Diva International
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