Kenzo Oshima

Kenzo Oshima (大島 賢三 Ōshima Kenzō, b. 1943) is the Permanent Representative of Japan to the United Nations. He is the former United Nations Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs. He is the recipient of a law degree from Tokyo University.

Before his appointment to the UN office, he was the Ambassador of Japan to Australia from September 2003 to December 2004. In mid-January 2001, Secretary-General Kofi Annan appointed him head of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. Prior to this, he was Secretary-General of the Secretariat for International Peace Cooperation Headquarters in the Office of the Prime Minister of Japan, where he oversaw Japan's peacekeeping and humanitarian assistance program. During his early diplomatic career he was posted abroad to France, India, Australia, and the Permanent Mission of Japan to the United Nations headquarters in New York City.

On a personal level, Mr. Oshima took the issue of Chernobyl to heart, being a Hiroshima survivor. In his capacity as United Nations Coordinator of International Cooperation on Chernobyl, he launched the report "The Human Consequences of the Chernobyl Nuclear Accident: A Strategy for Recovery."

He is married with two children.