As a retired international civil servant, Mr. Fouinat has represented the United Nations in a number of important humanitarian functions in Asia, Africa, Latin America and Europe. After serving as the Chef de Cabinet to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, he was in charge of UNHCR in the Asia Pacific region. In 1992-1993 he served as the Coordinator for UNHCR's activities in the former Yugloslavia and in 1999 he was selected as UNHCR's Chief of Operations for the Kosovo Emergency.
Since 2001 Mr. François Fouinat has been advancing the United Nation’s work on human security in a number of ways. First, as the Executive Director of the Commission of Human Security (CHS), he managed the work of the Commission and supervised the elaboration of its report entitled, “Human Security Now: Protecting and Empowering People”. Later, as the Executive Secretary of the Advisory Board on Human Security (ABHS), he led the Board’s initial efforts to promote and disseminate the findings and conclusions of the CHS. After the establishment of the Human Security Unit (HSU), he served as Special Adviser to the ABHS and to the United Nations Trust Fund for Human Security (UNTFHS).
Since January 2006, Mr. Fouinat has been the Senior Adviser to the Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Migration and Development. In this capacity, he has played a central role in the conception and the establishment of the Global Forum on Migration and Development, the first global governmental process that considers the links between migration and development through dialogue and cooperation.
Mr. Fouinat graduated from the Faculty of Law and received a post-graduate diploma from the Institut des Hautes Etudes de l’Amérique Latine, in Paris.