Bangkok, August 21 - The United Nations Population Fund, UNFPA, extends a warm welcome to Yoriko Yasukawa who has been appointed the new Director of its Asia-Pacific Regional Office as of August 2015.

Originally from Japan, Yasukawa brings to the role over 30 years of experience with the United Nations system in sustainable development, the defense and promotion of human rights, democratic governance and conflict prevention and resolution. Most of her years within the UN have been in South and Central America.

Most recently, Yasukawa served as UN Resident Coordinator and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in Costa Rica and Bolivia.

Earlier she held various senior positions with the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF), including Associate Director of Policy, Advocacy and Knowledge Management in the Division of Policy and Practice; Deputy Director of the Programme Division (Regional and Interagency Affairs Section); and Representative in Mexico and Ecuador.

New to UNFPA, Yasukawa says she is looking forward to working with colleagues at the Regional Office and across 23 country offices on the Fund's core issues, including sexual and reproductive health, viewing them through the lens of human rights and social protection for some of the most vulnerable populations across Asia and the Pacific -- pregnant women, new mothers and their infants, and young people.

Yasukawa takes over the position of UNFPA Asia-Pacific Regional Director from Nobuko Horibe who retired at the end of last year.