First female UN refugee chief dies at 92

Japan’s Sadako Ogata, the first woman to head the UN’s refugee agency UNHCR, has died at the age of 92, Japan’s foreign aid agency said Tuesday.

Ogata was widely respected for her efforts to help refugees and internally displaced people around the world and emphasised making visits to conflict zones during her tenure from 1991-2000.

She worked to help Kurdish refugees from Iraq after the Gulf War and was also known for tackling crises in Rwanda, Zaire, Sudan and the former Yugoslavia.

She was credited with re-establishing UNHCR’s credibility and was even touted as a potential successor to former UN chief Boutrous Boutrous-Ghali.