Ms. Sonja Bachmann works in the UN Department for Political Affairs Asia and the Pacific Division as Team Leader on Northeast Asia and the Pacific with a focus on peace and security issues on the Korean Peninsula and the implementation of the peace agreement for Bougainville, Papua New Guinea. Ms. Bachmann has worked for five years in Afghanistan with the UN Mission based in Kabul, Gardez, and Kandahar, as well as over two years as Senior Peace and Development Advisor in the United Nations Pacific Office in Fiji, consulting closely with the regional organization, the Pacific Islands Forum. She has supported the Nepal peace process following the Nepal Peace Agreement and worked as Senior Adviser to Alexander Downer, the UN Envoy in the Cyprus negotiations.
Before joining the United Nations, Ms. Bachmann had worked in the World Bank on community-driven development. She also spent a year in Peru advising the Peruvian Government on investment promotion and sustainable tourism.
Ms. Bachmann holds a Master of Laws and Diplomacy from the Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, MA, and a PhD in political science from the University of Vienna, Austria.
She is a national of Austria and speaks English, German, Italian, Spanish, and French.