The Plenary Assembly is the supreme organ of WFUNA. It consists of delegations appointed by member UNAs and meets at least once every three years. The responsibilities of the Plenary Assembly are detailed in Article 8 of the Constitution.The Plenary Assembly elects the President, Vice-Presidents (6), Secretary-General, Treasurer and Executive Committee (18 members). The Executive Committee elects its own Chair and Vice Chairs (2). The Plenary Assembly may confer the title of Honorary President upon the recommendation of the Executive Committee.
- President
- Secretary-General
- Vice Presidents
- Executive Committee
- Treasurer
- Honorary Presidents
- Past Honorary Presidents
Secretary-General
Bonian Golmohammadi was elected Secretary-General of the World Federation of United Nations Associations in August 2009. Previously, Mr. Golmohammadi served as Secretary-General of the United Nations Association of Sweden for eight years.
President
Ambassador Park Soo-gil, prior to his election as President of WFUNA at the 39th Plenary Assembly in August 2009, served as the Republic of Korea’s Ambassador in the Kingdom of Morocco, Canada, to the European Office of the United Nations in Geneva and the UN in New York, from 1984 to 1998.
Vice Presidents
Damba Bir Thapa
Damba Bir Thapa received his Bachelors Degree in Law and Masters Degree in English and Political Science from Tribhuvan University. He has been the Secretary-General of the United Nations Association of Nepal since 1968. He is currently the President of the National Federation of NGOs for the Millenium Development Goals Promotion in Nepal. Mr. Thapa has been an active member of the International Association of Educators for World Peace and the National Federation of UNESCO Clubs, Centres and Associations in Nepal.
Rashad Daureeawoo
Rashad Daureeawoo was born in Mauritius in 1949, where he pursued Primary and Secondary Education. He proceeded to London where he studied Law at Middle Temple and was called to the Bar in England in 1970. He has been associated with UNA-Mauritius for 25 years and is currently the President. He is also a member of the Law Reform Commission and Bar Council.
Ervin Gömbös
Ervin Gömbös has been the Secretary-General UNA- Hungary since 1981. He has held various leadership positions in WFUNA (Vice-President 1983-87, 1991-95, 2009-, member of the Executive Committee 1987-91, 1995-2009). He is a Professor at the International Business School in Budapest. Earlier he worked for the United Nations Statistical Office in New York for five years. He is the author of two books and co-author or editor of many others and has published some 50 studies on informatics, economics and international relations.
Harold Herman
Harold Herman has been the Secretary-General of UNA-South Africa since 2005. He received his Ph.D. in education from the University of the Western Cape in 1980. He served as the University's Dean of Faculty of Education for several years and as Head of the Department of Comparative Education from 1978-2000. Professor Herman was the co-founder and President of the South African Comparative and History of Education Society from 1991-1995. He served as Vice-President and is currently an active member of the Executive Committee on the World Council of Comparative Education Societies.
Rena Shashua Hasson
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Beate Wagner
Beate Wagner studied political science and philosophy in Marburg and Berlin receiving her Ph.D. from Free University in Berlin in 1994. She served as an Assistant at the Department for Federal and European Affairs under the Berlin State Government from 1992-1995. Dr. Wagner was the Director of Programme at the binational (German-US) Rias Berlin Commission from 1995-2002. She has been the Secretary-General of UNA- Germany since 2002 and has been an active member of the coordinating body of the national network of human rights NGOs (Forum Menschenrechte) since 2003.
Executive Committee
Ramaz Aptsiauri
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Alexei N Borisov
Alexei N Borisov is the Head of UNESCO Chair on Human Rights and Democracy, MGIMO-University. Mr. Borisov has served as Deputy Chairman and Secretary-General of UNA-Russia. He has also published many works on democracy, terrorism, the UN and NGO movements.
Carlos Amat Fores
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Aleksander Gabelic
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Jay Jethwa
Jay Jethwa is a scientist as well as a corporate lawyer by training. He is admitted as a barrister and solicitor of the Supreme Court of Victoria and High Court of Australia. He holds directorships in a number of healthcare related companies in Australia as well as internationally. He currently spends his time between business communities in Australia, India and the United Kingdom. He is a great believer in the ideals of the United Nations, and has been deeply involved in the UN system in Australia for more than 10 years.
Amb. Sun Joun-yung is currently the Vice-President and CEO of UNA-ROK, during which time he has been instrumental in having South Korea host WFUNA's 39th Plenary Assembly in 2009. Mr. Sun is a former Ambassador to the United Nations in both New York and Geneva. Mr. Sun has served as the Chair Professor of the Graduate School of North Korean Studies at Kyungnam University, Seoul.
Helena Laukko
Ms. Laukko is the Executive Director of the UN Association of Finland. She has fifteen years of experience in development cooperation work, including fieldwork in Uganda, and served as Executive Director of the International Solidarity Foundation. She is a member of the Finnish National Commission on Sustainable Development, Secretary of the Social Democratic Party’s section for development cooperation, and a member of the Development Policy Committee (2003–2007) and its predecessor the Advisory Board for Relations with Developing Countries (KESU).
Kwang Boon Lee
Mr. Lee, Secretary-General of UNA-Singapore, was elected to serve on the WFUNA Executive Committee at the 39th WFUNA Plenary Assembly in Seoul in August 2009.
Patrick Madden was named Executive Director of the United Nations Association of the United States of America in February 2011. Before assuming the UNA position, Madden served as President & CEO of Sister Cities International (SCI) for four years, building a network of U.S. cities partnered with more than 2,000 international communities that worked to implement economic development, humanitarian, cultural, and education programs and exchanges.
Phil Mulligan
Phil Mulligan became UNA-UK Executive Director in September 2010. Prior to joining the Association, he was CEO of Environmental Protection UK. Phil is the Vice-Chair of Defra’s Civil Society Advisory Board and a trustee of BTCV. He has been on the Board of One World Action, and currently sits on the Sustainability Committee of a global law firm and the Steering Group of the Brighton and Hove 10:10 campaign. As Country Director for VSO Indonesia, Phil ran programmes in maternal and child health, HIV, disability rights, education and sustainable livelihoods. After graduating from Cambridge, Phil spent five years volunteering and working for charities around the world.
Norma Rojas
Norma Rojas has a diverse academic and professional career in both Venezuela and Spain. Ms. Rojas most recently served as the Community Projects Specialist at CIDEU in Barcelona, Spain. She also worked as a Human Ecology Specialist at the International Center of Research and Social Dynamic Studies in Caracas. Ms. Rojas holds an International Diploma in Human Rights from the Technological Center University, Valencia.
Eduard Sagarra Trias
Mr. Trias served as the Board Spokesman for the UNA-Spain from 2002-2009 and has been Chairman of the UNA-Spain since 2009. He was elected representative of the Barcelona Bar Association's Governing Board between 1982 and 1986. In 2005, he was appointed Chairman of the editorial board of MÓN JURIDIC, the monthly journal published by the Barcelona Bar Association, 2005, and is a member of the editorial board of Dret i Societat, Roca Junyent’s legal newsletter. He has been the Vice President of the Human Rights section of the Union International des Avocats (UIA) since 2004 and a member of the International Institute of Political Science, since 2008.
Kari Solholm
Kari Solholm, the Secretary-General of UNA-Norway, has over 24 years experience working for UNA-Norway. During this time, she was a board member of the Norwegian UNESCO-commission, as well as an alternate board member on both the Norwegian Refugee Council and the Governing Board of the UNESCO Institute for Education in Hamburg. Mrs. Solholm also has over 10 years experience as a teacher.
Suresh Srivastava
Suresh Srivastava (Vice Chair) is the Secretary-General of the Indian Federation of UNAs. Mr. Srivastava has been a member of the Delhi High Court Bar Association and served as both Vice-President and President of the organization. Mr. Srivastava's professional interests include the United Nations, and social and economic challenges in India.
Christos Theodoulou has been President of UNA- Cyprus since March 2002, and he has been re-elected for a new term of 4 years in February 2008. A member of the UNA since 1969, he was in the Council as an Organizing Commissioner, Vice- President, and Chairman of the Larnaca branch. A lawyer, political scientist and an expert on international politics,
Cissa has been as adviser to the the UN Secretary-General's special representative to UN-Africa Union led International Conference for Peace, Security and Development for the Great Lakes Region of Africa. Currently, Dr. Cissa Wa Numbe is the Secretary-General of the United Nations Association of the Democratic Republic of the Congo (UNA-DRC). UNA-DRC has three offices located in the cities of Kinshasa, Goma, and Bukavu, D.R. Congo.
Kathryn White assumed the position of Executive Director of UNA-Canada in December 2003. Previously, Ms. White had been the President of Black & White Inc. Ms. White has published widely on climate change, youth-at-risk, international peace building, conflict resolution and many other topics. She was elected Chair of the Executive Committee in August 2009.
Zhang Xiao'an
Zhang Xiaoan is a native of Beijing, born in 1953. She graduated from Hangzhou University in 1978 and further studied in the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva during the late 1980s. She was in the Chinese foreign service for nearly two and half decades and had long and wealthy experiences with multilateral diplomacy especially in the area of UN affairs. She was posted to the Chinese Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York twice. She served as the Deputy Head and Counselor of the Chinese Embassy in Israel for 5 years. She was elected as the Vice-President and Director-General of the UN Association of China in May 2010.
Treasurer
In March 2009, Sundeep Bhutoria was elected as the Treasurer of the World Federation of United Nations Associations during the 196th Executive Committee meeting held in Ottawa, Canada. Born in Churu in the Shekawati region of Rajasthan (India), Sundeep Bhutoria is a name synonymous with social welfare and cultural integration.
Honorary Presidents
Hans Blix
Hashim Abdul Halim
Klaus Hüfner
Rhyl Jansen
Gregory M. Kovrizhenko
Nelson Mandela
Horace Perera
Hilkka Pietilä
Doug Roche
Mihaly Simai
Androula Vassiliou
Past Honorary Presidents
Mogens Hasdorf
Arthur Ross
Ram Niwas Mirdha, M.P
