This page is background information, last updated in May 2002 and still available for reference. For the latest on the Special Session on Children, please go to the Special Session index.

Michael Aaronson: Director General of the Save the Children Fund

Michael Aaronson, Director General of the Save the Children Fund, first joined the international non-governmental organization (NGO) in 1969. He was stationed in East Africa for two years as part of an emergency and rehabilitation programme for victims of the Nigerian civil war. He then became Save the Children's Overseas Director, responsible for programmes in Africa, Asia, Latin America, the Caribbean, the Middle East and the Pacific. Mr. Aaronson became Director General in 1995.

For the last 12 years, Mr. Aaronson has played a leading role in the revitalization of the International Save the Children Alliance, which has 30 member organizations around the world. He has also supported the active participation of children and young people in the organization.

From 1994 to 2000, Mr. Aaronson was the delegate from the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland to the European Commission/NGO Liaison Committee, which represents 900 European development NGOs to the institutions of the European Union. In 1997, he became Chair of the Geneva-based Steering Committee for Humanitarian Response, a group of leading international NGO networks involved in emergency relief. In 1998, he was the first British citizen to be elected to the post of Liaison Committee President, which he held until 2000.

Mr. Aaronson is also a Director of the United Kingdom's Disasters Emergency Committee, which co-ordinates public fundraising campaigns during humanitarian crises. He is a board member of the Henry Dunant Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, an independent research institution based in Geneva.

Mr. Aaronson holds a degree in Psychology and Philosophy from Oxford University.