Yasushi Akashi (明石 康 Akashi Yasushi, born January 19, 1931 in Hinai, Akita Prefecture) is a senior Japanese diplomat and United Nations administrator. Akashi graduated with Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Tokyo in 1954, studied as a Fulbright Scholar at the University of Virginia, and later at The Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy at Tufts University. As a politically appointed International Civil Servant at the Headquarters of the United Nations Secretariat in New York, he held positions as Under-Secretary-General of Public Information, Under-Secretary-General for Disarmament Affairs and Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator.
Among many other additional assignments he was the Secretary-General's Personal Representative for the war in the former Yugoslavia. He also supervised the Cambodian peace talks and subsequent elections in 1993. Despite his successes there, he was strongly criticized for his subsequent role in the Balkans, particularly for failing to prevent the genocide in Srebrenica.
Akashi was expected to visit Sri Lanka in the last week of September 2006 to help facilitate negotiations between the Tamil Tigers and the Sri Lankan government. In the past, Akashi has met with JVP official Somawansa Amarasinghe.
He ran for Governor of Tokyo in 1999.
Honorary citizen of Sochi city, Russia (1989).
Eminent member of the Sergio Vieira de Mello Foundation.