Born in Lima in 1920,
Mr. Perez de Cuellar joined Peru's Ministry of Foreign Affairs in 1940 and the diplomatic service in 1944.
He subsequently served as Secretary at the Peruvian embassies in France, the United Kingdom, Bolivia and Brazil, and as Counsellor and Minister Counsellor at the embassy in Brazil.
Having returned to Lima in 1961, he was promoted to the rank of Ambassador the following year, successively occupying the posts of Director of the Legal Department, Director of Administration, Director of Protocol and Director of Political Affairs.
Thus, he would later serve as a Peruvian Ambassador to different countries —including Switzerland, the Soviet Union, Poland, and Venezuela.
In 1966, he was appointed Secretary-General (Deputy Minister) for Foreign Affairs. In 1981, he served as Legal Adviser at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
In 1971, he was appointed Permanent Representative of Peru to the United Nations, and he led his country's delegation to all sessions of the Assembly from then until 1975.
In 1973 and 1974, he represented Peru in the Security Council, serving as Chair of the council at the time of the events in Cyprus in July 1974. On September 18, 1975, he was appointed Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Cyprus, a post he held until December 1977, when he rejoined his Foreign Service.
On February 27, 1979, he was appointed as United Nations Under-Secretary-General for Special Political Affairs.
From April 1981 —while still holding this post— he acted as the Secretary-General's Personal Representative on the situation relating to Afghanistan. In that capacity, he visited Pakistan and Afghanistan in April and August of that year in order to continue the negotiations initiated by the Secretary-General some months earlier.
He held that post between 1982 and 1991, in which he played an outstanding role in the ceasefire negotiations of diverse international conflicts.
Over the course of a successful diplomatic career and during his 10 years as Secretary-General of the United Nations, his tireless work for world peace and solidarity among peoples has been recognized in his country of origin and around the world.
Visionary and staunch advocate of multilateralism, and as chief representative of the UN, he called on countries to work on the
protection of the environment and towards sustainable development, thus initiating the debate over an issue that nowadays deserves global attention.
In his letter, the Secretary-General said that Mr. Perez de Cuellar had held such office with dignity and commitment starting in the 1980s and —indeed— through his last moments as Secretary-General in 1991 with the historic El Salvador peace accords, which were signed at the last minute of his term.
"In 2020 —as the
United Nations celebrates its 75th anniversary by convening a global conversation in order to raise ideas for building the future we want— Ambassador Perez de Cuellar continues to be a source of inspiration for the people and organizations committed to peace, development, human rights, the principles of the 2030 Agenda, and the
Sustainable Development Goals," the United Nations System in Peru said on that occasion.
During the transition Government of former Peruvian President Valentin Paniagua (November 22, 2000 — July 28, 2001), Mr. Perez de Cuellar served as Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs.