Discussion Papers Series
Francis Deng (Sudan) is the Special Adviser of the United Nations Secretary-General on the Prevention of Genocide. He began his work at the United Nations as a Human Rights Officer from 1967 to 1972, after which he served as his country’s Ambassador to the Nordic countries, Canada and the United States, as well as Minister of State for Foreign Affairs. From 1992 to 2004, Mr. Deng resumed his work with the United Nations as Representative of the Secretary-General on Internally Displaced Persons.
Mr. Deng also founded and directed the Sudan Peace Support Project based at the United States Institute of Peace. As a scholar, he held the posts of Research Professor at the Johns Hopkins University’s School of Advanced International Studies, Wilhelm Fellow at the Center for International Studies at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, and Distinguished Visiting Scholar at the John Kluge Center of the Library of Congress.
Mr. Deng was also a senior fellow at Brookings Institution, where he founded and directed the Africa Project for 12 years. He has taught at several universities, including the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York University, Yale Law School and Columbia Law School. In addition, he has authored and edited over 30 books on human rights, history and politics, and has received numerous awards for his fight for peace.