The United Nations Under-Secretary-General (USG) for Global Communications and head of the UN Department of Global Communications (DGC), Melissa Fleming, will visit Japan from Monday, 26 to Friday, 30 May, to strengthen the UN-Japan partnership in the area of communications. This will be her first visit to Japan in two and a half years, since her last visit in December 2022.

During her stay in Japan, USG Fleming will visit the EXPO 2025 in Osaka, Kansai, where the UN is exhibiting a pavilion, and meet Japanese senior government officials as well as media representatives, including SDG Media Compact media partners, Nihon Hidankyo (Japan Confederation of A- and H-Bomb Sufferers Organizations) representatives, private sector partners, academia, and the UN community in Japan. Through these opportunities, Ms. Fleming will seek to further deepen the longstanding cooperation between Japan and the UN, which celebrates its 80th anniversary this year, and to strengthen future collaboration with Japanese stakeholders to promote the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), climate action, nuclear disarmament, and the fight against mis- and disinformation, reaffirming the need for stronger multilateralism in a world where conflicts and division are accelerating.

During her visit to Japan, USG Fleming will deliver a keynote speech at the “Yomiuri International Conference 2025 (May session): 80^th Anniversary of the UN – Strengthening Multilateralism and Japan’s Role” and will also speak at the “Climate Change Media Symposium 2025,” a public event organized by Media is Hope, as well as at the “Dialogue at UTokyo GlobE,” a dialogue event organized by the Global Education Center, University of Tokyo, and deliver a special lecture at International House Japan.

Biography of Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications, Melissa Fleming

Melissa Fleming
Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications
Department of Global Communications

Melissa Fleming was appointed UN Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications in September 2019.

She leads the UN’s Department of Global Communications, which informs global audiences about the state of the world and engages them to build support for the work and goals of the United Nations.

In this role, Ms. Fleming oversees the Department’s strategic and crisis communications operations, including its multilingual news and digital media services, public outreach programmes, and global campaigns.

Under her leadership, the UN Department of Global Communications developed the UN Global Principles for Information Integrity, a blueprint for healthy information ecosystems.

Previously, Ms. Fleming served 10 years at the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as Spokesperson for the High Commissioner and Head of Global Communications. Prior to that, she was the Spokesperson and Head of Media and Outreach at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She earlier headed Press and Public Information at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and before that, served as Public Affairs Specialist at Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. She also worked as a journalist.

Ms. Fleming is a TED speaker, the author of the book, A Hope More Powerful than the Sea, and the host of the award-winning UN podcast, Awake at Night. She has published widely on strategic communications and is a frequent public speaker at universities and conferences.

She holds a Master of Science in Journalism from the College of Communication, Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from Oberlin College.

For media queries, please contact Momoko Sato, Associate Public Information Officer of UNIC Tokyo at momoko.sato@un.org.

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