Karin Landgren (b. 1957) is the current Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General to Burundi, and former head of the UN Mission in Nepal (UNMIN).[1]
Landgren, a Swedish national, grew up in Japan before attending the London School of Economics, where she obtained a Bachelor of Science (Economics) in international relations and a Master of Laws in international law.[2]
In the 1980s, Landgren worked with Afghan and Iranian asylum-seekers in India, and with Vietnamese asylum-seekers in the Philippines and Singapore. She led UNHCR offices in Singapore and Eritrea, as well as the Bosnia-Herzegovina office during the Bosnian war. After serving as UNHCR's Chief of Standards and Legal Advice in Geneva, Switzerland, Landgren became Chief of Child Protection for UNICEF.[3]
In 2008, Landgren became Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Nepal, under Special Representative Ian Martin. Following the renewal of UNMIN's mandate in 2009, Landgren replaced Martin as the head of the UN mission.