Sérgio de Mello who inspired the 2020 movie Sergio, was born 15 March 1948 died 19 August 2003, he was 55. He was a Brazilian United Nations diplomat who worked on several UN humanitarian and political programs for over 34 years.
Before becoming the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in 2002, he was the UN Transitional Administrator in East Timor from December 1999 to May 2002, guiding the former Portuguese colony occupied by Indonesia to independence.
In May 2003 de Mello was appointed as the Special Representative of the UN Secretary General to Iraq, an appointment initially intended to last for four months. de Mello turned down the appointment three times before Kofi Annan was pressured by US President George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice. de Mello met Bush at a meeting in March 2003, at which the two men discussed the human rights situation in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, a controversial issue for the United States. In June 2003, de Mello was part of a team responsible for inspecting Abu Ghraib prison before it was rebuilt.
de Mello was working as United Nations Special Representative for Iraq when he along with 20 other members of his staff was killed on 19 August 2003 in the Canal Hotel bombing. Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a leader of the al-Qaeda terrorist organization, claimed responsibility for the blast. A communiqué from al-Qaida said that de Mello was assassinated because he had helped East Timor become an independent state, thereby stealing territory from the Islamic Caliphate.
Before his death, he was considered a likely candidate for UN Secretary-General. The Government of Brazil posthumously awarded the Sergio Vieira de Mello Medal to honor his legacy in promoting sustainable peace, international security and better living conditions for individuals in situations of armed conflict, challenges to which de Mello had dedicated his life and career.
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