Yukiko Arai appointed Director of the ILO Office for the Southern Cone

• Facebook
• X
• Linkedin

SANTIAGO (ILO News) - The International Labour Organization (ILO) announces that Yukiko Arai has assumed her role as Director of the Decent Work Technical Support Team and ILO Country Office for the Southern Cone (DWT/CO-Santiago), effective 1 April 2026.

A Japanese national, Arai holds a Master's degree in International Economics, with advanced studies on Latin America, from Johns Hopkins University, as well as a Bachelor's degree in Law from Keio University.

She most recently served as Deputy Director of the ILO Sectoral Policies Department (SECTOR) in Geneva. Previously, she was Director of the ILO Country Office for Argentina, Senior Specialist in the Enterprises Department in Geneva, and held technical positions related to child labour and poverty reduction at the ILO Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific in Bangkok, as well as at headquarters in Geneva. Before joining the ILO in 2001, she worked at the World Bank and the Inter-American Development Bank, both in Washington, D.C.

In 2013, she took leave to serve as Director of International Relations for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee.

In recognition of her international career, she was named one of the "55 most influential women working on a global mission" by Forbes Japan in 2016, and in 2021 she was selected as one of the "100 most respected Japanese in the world" by Newsweek Japan.

In her new role in the Southern Cone, Arai will lead the ILO's work in supporting its tripartite constituents-governments, employers' and workers' organizations-in promoting decent work through the strengthening of social dialogue in the region.