The record

A rare breadth of experience

From the presidency of the Security Council to the Foreign Ministry of Uganda, from the International Peace Academy to the villages of a post-war north - the positions, honours and commissions of a career spent in the service of peace.

Olara Otunnu

Leadership at the international level

  • UN Under-Secretary-General and Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, 1998–2005
  • President of the UN Security Council, December 1981; Uganda's Representative to the Council, 1981–1982
  • Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Uganda to the United Nations, 1980–1985
  • President, International Peace Academy (now the International Peace Institute), 1990–1998
  • Chairman, UN Commission on Human Rights; Representative to the Commission, 1980–1984
  • Vice-President, UN General Assembly, 1983–1984
  • Chairman, UN General Assembly Credentials Committee, 1983–1984
  • Chairman, Contact Group on Global Negotiations, 1982–1983
  • Chairman, Group of 77 for the Law of the Sea Negotiations, 1980–1981
  • World's Children's Ombudsman, selected by a worldwide network of millions of children, 2005–present

Leadership in Uganda

  • Minister of Foreign Affairs, 1985–1986
  • Member, Uganda National Consultative Council - the interim Parliament following the removal of Idi Amin, 1979–1980
  • Secretary-General, Uganda Freedom Union, 1976–1980
  • Delegate, Moshi Unity Conference on Uganda, 1979
  • President, Makerere University Students Guild; Member, Makerere University Council, 1972–1973
  • President, Uganda People's Congress, 2010–2015
  • Co-Chair, St. Janani Luwum Memorial, 2014–present
  • Co-Chair, Rocco Paco peacebuilding initiative, 2023–present

Prizes, awards and honours

  • Harvard Law School Alumni Association Award (USA), 2007
  • Sydney Peace Prize (Australia), 2005
  • Global Award for Outstanding Contribution to Human Rights (India), 2006
  • German Africa Prize, presented by President Johannes Rau, 2002
  • Distinguished Service Award, United Nations Association of the USA
  • Overseas Scholar, Oxford University; Fulbright Scholar, Harvard University; the Queen's Scholarship
  • African Leaders Programme, Operation Crossroads Africa
  • Otunnu Highway - the road linking Makerere University and Mulago national hospital, named in tribute to his leadership of the resistance to Idi Amin

Boards and institutions

  • Aspen Institute (USA), 1992–2025; Aspen France and Aspen Italia, 1980s
  • Carnegie Corporation of New York, 1998–2007
  • Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, 1994–2006
  • Jury, John P. McNulty Prize, 2007–present; Jury, Hilton Humanitarian Prize, 1990–2011
  • International Crisis Group, 1990s; Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, Geneva
  • International Advisory Board of the International Committee of the Red Cross, 1980s
  • Advisory Committee, Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI)
  • UN Institute for Training and Research (UNITAR), 1981–1986; Council of African Advisers of the World Bank
  • Hampshire College (USA), 1982–1990; International Patrons, Refugee Studies Programme, Oxford
  • Member, Club of Rome; Patron, World's Children's Prize (Sweden), 2005–present

High-level international commissions

  • Carnegie Commission on Preventing Deadly Conflict, 1994–1997 (Co-Chairs: Cyrus R. Vance and David A. Hamburg)
  • Commission on Global Governance, 1992–1995 (Co-Chairs: Ingvar Carlsson and Sir Shridath Ramphal)
  • International Task Force on Security Council Peace Enforcement (Chair: Sir Brian Urquhart)

Children and armed conflict

One of the most ambitious human rights agendas ever undertaken

  • Placed the protection of children in armed conflict on the agenda of the UN Security Council, and built a comprehensive body of legal standards around it.
  • Pioneered the practice of obtaining concrete Commitments from parties to conflict - the Commitments List - as benchmarks for monitoring conduct, and the moral steppingstone to a compliance regime.
  • Launched the 'Era of Application' campaign in 2002, moving the world from standard-setting to enforcement.
  • Proposed and secured the ECOWAS Peer Review Mechanism for the Protection of Children, and addressed the European Parliament twice on the protection of children and women in war.
  • Bore witness in the field, visiting Afghanistan, Angola, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Burundi, Croatia, the DRC, Kosovo, Liberia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sri Lanka, Sudan and South Sudan, and many others.