Kimmo Kiljunen

Kimmo Kiljunen

Kimmo Kiljunen (born 13 June 1951 in Ruokolahti) was a member of the Finnish parliament from 1995 to 2011.^[1] He was a member of the Parliament's Grand Committee and member of the Committee for Foreign Affairs. He is a member of Social Democratic Party and has been the chairman of the city council of Vantaa.

Kiljunen has a PhD degree from the University of Sussex. He has published several books on Finnish politics, international relations and development. Recently, he has focused on European integration and bringing a parliamentary dimension to the work of intergovernmental organizations. He was a member of the European Convention that drafted a constitution for the EU. He was a candidate in the 2009 elections of the European Parliament and received 26,837 votes, which was not enough to be elected.

Kiljunen has been an active member and vice-chair of the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Parliamentary Assembly and led several election observation missions in Eastern Europe and Central Asia. He was in chartge for the Independent International Commission of Inquiry into the Events in southern Kyrgyzstan, established after the President of the Kyrgyz Republic Roza Otunbayeva asked Dr. Kimmo Kiljunen, Special Representative for Central Asia of the OSCE Parliamentary Assembly, to coordinate the preparation process to establish it. After broad consultation with numerous international bodies, including the UN, the OSCE, the EU, the CIS and the office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, the terms of reference were established and endorsed. The KIC was mandated to investigate the facts and circumstances relevant to incidents that took place in southern Kyrgyzstan in June 2010, qualify the violations and crimes under international law, determine responsibilities and make recommendations, particularly on accountability measures, so as to ensure the non-repetition of the violations and to contribute toward s peace, stability and reconciliation. After publication of the report's findings, the Kyrgyz parliament announced him non-grata.

Prior to his career in politics, he worked for United Nations Development Programme in New York City and UNICEF in Nairobi. He was married to ambassador Marja-Liisa Kiljunen. He and Marja-Liisa Kiljunen made together an appeal for the divorce on 21 October 2008. They had been married since 1972 and have two daughters, Rauha and Riikka and two sons, Veikko and Jaakko.^[2]

He is currently member of the AWEPA Governing Council.^[3]

References

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