Michael Møller (born 9 November 1952, in Denmark) is president of the Diplomatic Forum of the Geneva Science and Diplomacy Anticipator Foundation, principal advisor at Macro Advisory Partners and member of the boards of several foundations, including the Kofi Annan Foundation. He is Honorary President of the Association of Former International Civil Sevants for Development (Greycells). He is a Danish former Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and the 12th director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG). He was also the secretary-general of the Conference on Disarmament and the United Nations Secretary-General's personal representative to the conference. He was appointed to these roles by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in November 2013 and was reappointed by Secretary-General António Guterres in February 2017 for another year. Møller has over 40 years of experience as an international civil servant in the United Nations System, serving in different roles in New York, Iran, Mexico, Haiti and Geneva. Prior to his tenure as director-general, he was the executive director of the Kofi Annan Foundation from 2008 to 2011.
Education
Born in Copenhagen in 1952, Møller took courses in political science at the Institute for Political Science of the University of Aarhus, in Denmark. In 1976, he received his B.A. in international relations at the University of Sussex, in the United Kingdom. He earned his M.A. in international relations in 1978 from Johns Hopkins University, where he specialized in international organizations and the European Economic Community. He was enrolled at the European campus of the Paul H. Nitze School of Advanced International Studies, in Bologna, Italy.
United Nations career
Møller began his career in 1979 with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) as a programme officer and legal officer at its headquarters in Geneva. He was soon after appointed assistant to the director of the Division of International Protection. In 1982 he was promoted to second officer of the UNHCR Regional Office in New York, where he stayed until 1984. This period proved highly formative for his later career, having witnessed war and human suffering first-hand.
After the UNHCR, Møller went on to hold various roles within the United Nations System, in Iran, Mexico, Haiti, Cyprus, New York and Geneva. Møller has held the following positions:
New York, United States
Assistant representative, UNHCR Liaison Office and Regional Office for the Caribbean, New York (1982–1985) Special assistant to the assistant secretary-general, Office of Secretariat Services for Economic and Social Matters (1985–1987) Special assistant to the assistant secretary-general in charge of the Centre against Apartheid, Department of Political Affairs (UN-DPA) (1988–1992) Special assistant to the assistant secretary-general for Political Affairs, UN-DPA (1992) Deputy director, Americas Division, UN-DPA (1994) Senior political affairs officer, Office of the Special Advisor to the Secretary-General (1994–1995) Principal officer, Office of the Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs (1997–2001) Director for political, peacekeeping and humanitarian affairs, and deputy chef de cabinet, Executive Office of the Secretary-General (2001–2006)
Geneva, Switzerland
Programme officer and legal officer, UNHCR (1979) Assistant to the director, Division of International Protection, UNHCR (1979–1982) Senior political adviser to the director-general of the United Nations Office at Geneva (1995–1997)
Other
Political advisor to the United Nations Military Inspection Team of Iran (1985) Head of Sub-Office for Southern Mexico, UNHCR (1987–1988) Head of the United Nations Component, Joint UN/OAS Civilian Mission in Haiti (MICIVIH)(1993) Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, special representative of the secretary-general and chief of mission, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (2006–2008) Executive director, Kofi Annan Foundation (2008–2011)
Tenure as director-general of the UN Office at Geneva
On 5 November 2013, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Møller as the acting head of the United Nations Office at Geneva (UNOG), succeeding Kassym-Jomart Tokayev. He was confirmed in that position in June 2015.