Roland Kouassi Amoussouga

Roland Kouassi Amoussouga-Géro is an experienced political and legal expert with a strong track record in coordinating large scale integrated operations and programmes in the areas of peacekeeping, peace-building involving electoral affairs management, international politics, international criminal justice, transitional justice, rule of law, international humanitarian and human rights law, protection of refugees/internally displayed persons, strategic planning and management, strategic communications and public information, economic recovery and sustainable development in conflict and post conflict settings.

Mr. Amoussouga-Géro has over 35 years of professional experience, of which 26 have been devoted entirely to the United Nations System. From August 2019 to August 2020, he served as Director of Political Affairs in the United Nations Office for West Africa and the Sahel (UNOWAS) in Dakar, Senegal and in other various capacities with the United Nations operations in Haiti, South Africa, Jamaica, Cuba, Rwanda, Tanzania and Central African Republic. Most recently in UNOWAS, he provided the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General with active support in his leadership role and engagements in preventive diplomacy, good offices and political mediation and facilitation in countries in West Africa and the Sahel, while assisting sub-regional institutions and States in strengthening their capacities in addressing cross-border and cross-cutting threats to peace and security by promoting good governance, respect for the rule of law, human rights and the mainstreaming of gender in conflict prevention and conflict management initiatives.

Prior to joining UNOWAS, he also served as Principal Political Expert/Senior Consultant for the ‘’Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie (OIF)’’ and conducted analysis of the political, institutional, economic and social situation of Haiti in support of political consultations and inclusive dialogue of key stakeholders to address its daunting challenges in 2015 and 2019. From 2016-2018, he headed the Integrated Office of the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in the Central African Republic (MINUSCA) in Bangui, Central African Republic where he also coordinated from 2014 to 2015, the investigation work of the United Nations International Commission of Inquiry on the Central African Republic into the grave violations of international humanitarian law, international human rights law and abuses committed in the Central African Republic from 1 January 2013 to 31 December 2014.

Mr. Amoussouga-Géro also assumed for over 17 years the functions of Chief of Witnesses and Victims Support & Protection, Senior Legal Adviser, Chief of External Relations & Strategic Planning, Head of Strategic Communications and Spokesperson of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (UNICTR), in Arusha, Tanzania from 1996 to 2013. He also served as Human Rights Officer in 1993 with the joint United Nations/Organization of American States' International Civilian Mission to Haiti (UN/OAS/MICIVIH) in Port-au-Prince, Haiti; He acted as Peace Promotion Officer/Elections Monitor/Training Coordinator with the United Nations Observer's Mission to South Africa (UNOMSA) in Johannesburg and Kimberley in South-Africa in 1994; and worked as Legal Consultant for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Kingston, Jamaica and Guantanamo Bay in Cuba in1994.

Perfectly bilingual (English/French), Mr. Amoussouga-Géro has two Master’s Degrees in Law from the University of Benin, in Lomé, Togo and from the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia, the United States of America. Born in 1960, married and father of a child, Mr. Amoussouga-Géro is a Canadian citizen of African origins (Togo and Benin). He has an extensive field experience gathered in complex hardship and multicultural environments in conflict and post-conflict setting.