Ms. Picado represented her country on the Experts Committee for the Promotion of Human Rights in Central America, at the Commission of European Communities from 1992 to 1994, as co-Chair of the Board of Directors of the Inter-American Dialogue in Washington, DC from 1993 to 1994, and at the International Commission for the Recovery and Development of Central America from 1987 to 1989.

In 1980, Ms. Picado became the first woman to be elected Dean of the University of Costa Rica’s School of Law. She has also taught in Salzburg, Austria, at the Inter-American Institute of Human Rights, the University of Dayton (Ohio), the World University Service in Austria and Columbia University.

He obtained his B.A. in International Relations at the University of Tokyo in 1977 and his Ph.D. in Political Science at Massachusetts Institute of Technology in 1981.

Mr. Tanaka’s specialties include theories of international politics, contemporary international relations in East Asia, and Japan’s foreign policy. He has numerous books and articles in Japanese and English including Posuto kuraishisu no sekai (The Post-Crisis World) (Tokyo: Nihon keizai shimbun shuppansha, 2009), Ajia no nakano Nippon (Japan and International Politics in Asia) (Tokyo: NTT Shupan, 2007), and the New Middle Ages: The World System in the 21st Century (Tokyo: The International House of Japan, 2002).

He received the Medal with Purple Ribbon for his academic achievements in 2012.

Mr. Takasu has held a wide range of positions at the �鶹APP including as Controller at the Assistant Secretary-General level and Member of the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions (ACABQ). He also has nearly 40 years of experience in multilateral diplomacy, notably as Permanent Representative of Japan to the �鶹APP in New York; Ambassador, Embassy of Japan, Washington; Ambassador, Scientific Cooperation, Human Security and �鶹APP Reform, Tokyo; and Permanent Representative of Japan to the International Organizations in Vienna, including the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA).

Mr. Smith holds an M.A. in Economics from the New School for Social Research in New York and a B.A. in Anthropology and Ethnomusicology from the University of Michigan.

In 1991, after Slovenia’s independence, Mr. Kovačič became the country’s first Secretary-General at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Later, he was selected the alternate Permanent Representative of the Republic of Slovenia to the �鶹APP in New York as well as the Consul-General of the Republic of Slovenia in New York.

After serving as the Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary of the Republic of Slovenia in Portugal and the Kingdom of Morocco, Mr. Kovačič continued to represent the Government of the Republic of Slovenia in a number of functions including as the National Coordinator for the Stability Pact for South Eastern Europe and the South Eastern Europe Cooperation Initiative, the National Coordinator for the Human Security Network, the National Focal Point for the Alliance of Civilizations, and the National Coordinator for Cooperation with the International Organization of Francophone countries.

Dr. Ginwala has dedicated her entire life to addressing democracy, governance, human rights and development. She served as the co-Chairperson of the Commonwealth Parliamentary Association, was a member of the African Union’s Audit Panel, and served as a member of the Advisory Panel of High-Level Personalities on African Development to the UN Secretary-General. Throughout her work, Dr. Ginwala has called for women’s involvement in conflict resolution and peace building and has worked with women in Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Liberia, Rwanda, Palestine and Israel.

Dr. Ginwala was a member of the Advisory Board on Corruption, which was established under the African Union Convention on Preventing and Combating Corruption.

Since January 2006, Mr. Fouinat has been the Senior Adviser to the Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Migration and Development. In this capacity, he has played a central role in the conception and the establishment of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the first global intergovernmental process that considers the links between migration and development through dialogue and cooperation.

As a retired international civil servant, Mr. Fouinat has represented the �鶹APP in a number of important humanitarian functions in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. After serving as the Chef de Cabinet to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), he was in charge of UNHCR in the Asia Pacific region. In 1992-1993 he served as the Coordinator for UNHCR’s activities in the former Yugoslavia and in 1999, he was selected as UNHCR’s Chief of Operations for the Kosovo Emergency.

Mr. Fouinat graduated from the Faculty of Law and received a post-graduate diploma from the Institut des Hautes Etudes de l’Amérique Latine in Paris.