He was born in Stockholm (Sweden) in 1944 and graduated from Stockholm University in 1967 (B.A. in philosophy). He then held various posts in the Swedish Ministries of Interior and Labour, among others as Secretary General (1971-1974) of the parliamentary Commission which prepared the new Swedish policy of multiculturalism and as Director (1978-1982) of the immigration policy Division of the Ministry of Labour. In 1982, the late Prime Minister Olof Palme appointed him Secretary of State at the Ministry of Labour, responsible for immigration to Sweden and for equality between women and men. As deputy to former Minister Anita Gradin he held this position until early 1987.
In April 1987, he joined UNHCR in Geneva as Senior Adviser to the High Commissioner for Refugees, to assist in finding solutions to the asylum crisis in Europe together with Governments concerned, in the framework of the informal consultations which originally were initiated by the Swedish Government. The Secretariat for these consultations obtained a semi-independent status in 1991 through a special co-operation agreement between 16 Western Governments and UNHCR, and Jonas Widgren headed this Secretariat, as Co-ordinator for the Inter-governmental Consultations (IGC), until the spring of 1993.
In May 1993, Jonas Widgren was appointed Director of the International Centre for Migration Policy Development (ICMPD) in Vienna. This Centre was established by the Governments of Austria and Switzerland and it is an inter-governmental organization with diplomatic status, according to an agreement concluded with Austria. Hungary and Slovenia have later joined as Member States, and the Czech Republic and Poland has initiated the accession procedure. In addition, 16 other Governments have concluded co-operation agreements or contribute to the financing of the Centre, the mission of which is to assist Governments in elaborating policy options with respect to increasing East-West and South-North migratory flows. The Centre is also acting as a clearing-house for East-West inter-governmental co-operation on migration issues and is the secretariat for the Budapest-process, gathering 40 Governments and 10 international organizations in an effort to better control migratory movements. Moreover, ICMPD has initiated a variety of projects relating to refugees from Bosnia and Herzegovina and their return, and has concluded agreements in this regard with UNHCR, IOM, OSCE and the European Commission. ICMPD has diplomatic offices in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Macedonia and representatives in Geneva, Washington and Ottawa.
Since the early 1970's, Jonas Widgren has regularly acted as consultant on international refugee and migration matters to the UN, ILO, UNESCO, OECD, IOM, Council of Europe and other international organizations. In 1995-1998 he served as External Adviser to the Cabinet of the EU Commissioner responsible for immigration and asylum affairs. He chaired the OECD Working Party on Migration 1983-1987, and during his whole tenure as a Swedish Government official he represented Sweden in various inter-governmental fora. He has published a great number of articles and studies on migration and asylum issues in Sweden and abroad and has lectured widely in Europe and North America.
