Oral history interview with Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 2002

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Name: Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier, 1920- (Interviewee); Weiss, Thomas G. (Thomas George), 1946- (Interviewer)
Title: Oral history interview with Javier Pérez de Cuéllar, 2002
Abstract: Early years: 1920 born in Lima, Peru; international law at Catholic University; Career: 1940 Foreign Ministry clerk; 1944 appointment in Paris; 1946 participant in first General Assembly meeting (London); 1964 Switzerland ambassador; 1966 vice-minister of foreign affairs in Foreign Ministry; 1969 Moscow ambassador; 1971 Peru's permanent UN ambassador; 1975 Executive Director of UN Environment Progr amme (UNEP) and Under-Secretary-General for special political affairs; 1981-1991 UN Secretary General; 2000-2001 Prime-Minister of Peru; Peruvian representative to UNESCO; author of The Manual of Diplomatic Law and Pilgrimage for Peace: A Secretary-General's Memoir; Themes: bilateral diplomacy; third-world solidarity; necessity of US financial involvement in Latin America; opposition to The New International Economic Order (NIEO); lack of realism in developing countries; Group of 77 member; successes as Secretary General: independence of Nambia, Cuban withdrawal from Angola, end of Iraq-Iran war, solution of El Salvador problem, active in Yugoslovian crisis; necessity of dividing ECOSOC into social and economic commissions; UN resolutions lack follow-up mechanism; UN groundbreaking in policies on nuclear proliferation, environmental protection, population planning, and sustainable development; progress by UN conventions on rights of women and children; importance of Universal Declaration of Human Rights in Charter of the United Nations; necessity of reducing state sovereignty
Collection Name: United Nations intellectual history project (UNIHP)
Subjects: Ambassadors--Peru; International economic relations; Economic development; International cooperation; World politics--1975-1985; World politics--1985-1995; Nuclear disarmament; Human rights; Economic development--Environmental aspects; United States Foreign economic relations Latin America; Developing countries Economic conditions; Developing countries Foreign economic relations; Pérez de Cuéllar, Javier, 1920-; United Nations Officials and employees; United Nations History; United Nations. Secretary-General; Group of 77; United Nations. General Assembly; Universal Declaration of Human Rights
Format: oral histories; sound recordings
Genre: Interviews
Date: 2002

Note (Biographical): UN Secretary General
Note: Interviewed by Thomas G. Weiss on April 4, 2002
Note (Provenance): Ralph Bunche Institute for International Studies, The Graduate Center, City University of New York, Gift, 2009
Language: English
Library Location: Columbia Center for Oral History, Columbia University
Catalog Record: 13684750
Persistent URL: https://dx.doi.org/10.7916/d8-b2tz-pg73
Related URLs: Available digital content for this interview.