Secretary-General Appoints Mari Yamashita of Japan Senior Representative for Implementation of Security Council Resolution 2792 (2025)

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Mari Yamashita of Japan as his Senior Representative for the Implementation of Security Council resolution 2792 (2025).

In her role as Senior Representative, she will support continued progress on the outstanding issue of Kuwaiti missing persons and property, including the national archives, as outlined in Security Council resolution 2792 (2025) and following the conclusion of the mandate of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Iraq (UNAMI) on 31 December 2025.

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. Before this appointment, she served as the Officer-in-Charge of the United Nations Mission to Support the Hudaydah Agreement (UNMHA) in Yemen, until the Mission's closure on 31 March 2026. Since May 2024, she had been serving as the Mission's Deputy Head. Prior to that, she was the Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Office in Belgrade, Serbia.

Among various senior-level positions, she 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, as Director of the United Nations Information Centre (UNIC) 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, the United Nations Transitional Administration in Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Sirmium, Croatia, 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. In addition to her native Japanese, she speaks English, Finnish, French and German.

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* This supersedes Press Release SG/A/2292 of 23 May 2024.