Dr. Ai Kihara-Hunt is Professor at the Graduate Program on Human Security, the University of Tokyo. At the University, she is also Director of the International Law Training and Research Hub, and Director of the Research Center for Sustainable Peace. She serves as Secretary at the Academic Council on the United Nations System (ACUNS). Her main areas of research and publications are human rights, International Humanitarian Law (IHL), United Nations (UN) Peace Operations, in particular UN Police, the rule of law, and accountability. She coaches student teams on IHL and human rights. Her publications include: Holding UNPOL to Account: Individual Criminal Accountability of United Nations Police Personnel (Brill, 2017).
She served as a member of the UN Police Doctrinal Development Group, which drafted the doctrinal framework for the UN Police in 2016-2017. Prior to that, she worked as Human Rights Officer for the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) in Nepal and at the headquarters, Assistant to the Executive Director of the Independent Special Commission of Inquiry for Timor-Leste, Associate Protection Officer at the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Sri Lanka, Public Information and Community Outreach Officer at the Commission for Reception, Truth and Reconciliation in East Timor, and Human Rights Officer in the UN Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET).
