Rafeeuddin Ahmed

Not to be confused with Rafiuddin Ahmed or Rafiuddin Ahmed (dentist).

Rafeeuddin Ahmed (born 1932) is a Pakistani diplomat who served as the Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations for 21 years.^[1]

Rafeeuddin Ahmed
Born	1932
Alma mater	The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, University of the Punjab
Occupation	Pakistani diplomat
Spouse	Nighat Ahmed
Children	Zia Ahmed, Kamaluddin Ahmed

Career

Rafiuddin Ahmed started his career as a lecturer in Political Science at the Government College University (Faisalabad) in 1954.^[2] Then he served as an official at the Foreign Service of Pakistan.^[3]

His various roles within the United Nations started on 2 May 1970 and have included:^[2]

• Executive Secretary at the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (1992 – 1994)^[4]
• Under-Secretary General for Political Affairs, Trusteeship and Decolonization
• Under-Secretary General and Chef de Cabinet for the UN Secretary General, Kurt Waldheim^[3]
• Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs in South-East Asia
• Secretary of the Economic and Social Council
• Under-Secretary-General and Senior Adviser to the Administrator of United Nations Development Programme^[2]

In addition to his Secretary and Under-Secretary posts, he has served as:

• Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to Secure Release of the Crew of the Russian Plane Force Landed in Kandahar by the Taliban Regime in Afghanistan^[2]
• Special Representative of the Secretary-General for the Laos-Thailand Conflict^[2]
• Special Representative of the Secretary-General for East Timor
• Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Cambodia
• Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Myanmar
• Convenor of the Secretary-General's Task Force on Falkland Islands (Malvina) in 1982^[2][5][6]
• Principal Aide to the UN Secretary-General for the Iran hostage crisis^[2]
• Special Adviser on Iraq appointed by UN Secretary-General, Kofi Annan in 2003^[3]

Personal life and education

Rafeeuddin Ahmed is an alumnus of The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University in Medford, Massachusetts, where he studied in International Economics and International Law. He has also earned an MA in Political Science from the University of Punjab in Lahore, Pakistan.^[2]

Rafeeuddin Ahmed is married to Nighat Ahmed and is father to Zia Ahmed, also a Fletcher alumnus, and Kamaluddin Ahmed, a prominent lecturer at Lahore University of Management Sciences, Pakistan.