Recommended! : Sadako Ogata - From the field of refugee support
Written and composed by Higashino Makoto

Learning from the world's most respected Japanese citizen.

We had a talk about the international situation one night in a dormitory of a university in the United States where I had spent my days as a graduate student. One of my friends talked about her experience of losing all her family in the mass-killings that took place in Rwanda. Another girl talked about her struggle because she was unable to go back to Myanmar, her home country because she was afraid of being captured by the military government. I became aware then that while I was spending my school days engaged in school festivals and sports days, many young people around the world had no home and were forced to face death as part of their daily lives. The stories of those for whom experiencing these extreme situations was a reality were very different from what I had learnt from books and from the television. I was at a loss for words when one of them told me that “you are the only one here who comes from a peaceful country.”

Ms Sadako Ogata was a resident in the same dormitory 50 years ago. This book is about her experience as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees and describes the background to her experiences of conflict and dealing with refugees.

“Anger” is said to have been Ms Ogata's motivation. To ensure the security of refugees, she had the flexibility to change the rules from time to time and to undertake bold initiatives that surprised the world. She insisted on knowing what was actually happening in the field and fought against the world refugee crisis. There must have been many people who observed her work and thus took an interest in the need for international authority and global cooperation in dealing with displaced people.

The conflicts and crises going on in the world are strongly linked to us Japanese living happily and peacefully at home. As the world's most respected Japanese citizen, Ms Ogata's determined work was motivated by feelings of anger. One will surely feel motivated to work in the field of international affairs by learning about her ten years of experiences.