Silent Killers Episode 8: Peace in Progress with Izumi Nakamitsu
Silent Killers is a special series Podcast in collaboration between ICBL and David Peck, an activist, speaker, and filmmaker, who’s recent documentary Broken Courage highlights the lived experiences of landmine survivors in Cambodia. Through this collaboration, ICBL hopes to amplify the voices of survivors, advocates, and change makers, and to reignite a global movement rooted in justice, empathy, and the belief that no one should fear the ground beneath their feet.
Episode 8: Peace in Progress with Izumi Nakamitsu
Available on Monday 17 November at 9 AM CEST on ICBL YouTube Channel, Spotify and Apple Podcasts
In this episode of Silent Killers, David Peck speaks with Izumi Nakamitsu, UN Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs, who discusses the importance of hope and collaboration in addressing global challenges. She emphasizes the need for camaraderie and the belief that collective efforts can lead to meaningful change, even if it is incremental. Her optimism stems from witnessing real progress made by individuals and groups working together.
Ms. Izumi Nakamitsu assumed her position as Under-Secretary-General and High Representative for Disarmament Affairs on 1 May 2017.
She has many years of experience within and outside the United Nations system, most recently as Special Adviser Ad Interim on Follow-up to the Summit on Addressing Large Movements of Refugees and Migrants between 2016 and 2017. She was previously Director of the Asia and the Middle East Division of the United Nations Department of Peacekeeping Operations between 2012 and 2014, and Director of the Department’s Division of Policy, Evaluation and Training, from 2008 to 2012.
Between 2005 and 2008, Ms. Nakamitsu was Professor of International Relations at Hitotsubashi University in Tokyo, where she also served as a member of the Foreign Exchange Council to Japan’s Foreign Minister, and as a visiting senior adviser on peacebuilding at the Japan International Cooperation Agency. Between 1998 and 2004, she was the Chef de Cabinet and Director of Planning and Coordination at the International Institute for Democracy and Electoral Assistance, based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Earlier in her career, Ms. Nakamitsu was a member of the United Nations Reform Team of former Secretary-General Kofi Annan. She also held positions with the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), including within the office of Assistant High Commissioner for Policy and Operations Sergio Vieira de Mello, and in UNHCR field operations in the former Yugoslavia, Turkey and northern Iraq. Ms. Nakamitsu holds a Master of Science degree in Foreign Service from Georgetown University in Washington, D.C., and a Bachelor of Law degree from Waseda University in Tokyo.
She is married and has two daughters.
