Photo/Illutration Sadako Ogata in May 2016 (Asahi Shimbun file photo)

Sadako Ogata, who was the first woman to serve as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), has died. She was 92.

Ogata, who keenly felt the struggles faced by displaced people, was also the first female president of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).

A funeral for her was held on Oct. 29 at a church in Tokyo.

Ogata was born in 1927 in Tokyo. After graduating from the University of the Sacred Heart in Tokyo, she earned her master's degree at Georgetown University in Washington and Ph.D. in political science at the University of California, Berkeley.

In 1976, she became the first Japanese woman to serve as envoy to the United Nations. She also represented the Japanese government on the U.N. Human Rights Commission for several years, among other posts.

In January 1991, Ogata assumed the top post of U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees, serving until 2000.

Among her many international efforts, she supported Kurdish people in Iraq who had been uprooted from their homes in the Gulf War and were staying near the Turkish border.

The UNHCR originally targeted refugees from other countries. However, Ogata also focused on those displaced in their own countries, which became a major turning point for the organization and her career.

Ogata propounded the importance of human security and protecting people's dignity from conflict, poverty and other threats.

A resolution on human security was unanimously adopted by the U.N. General Assembly in 2012.

In 2001, Ogata was appointed as the Japanese prime minister's special representative on assistance for Afghanistan, a role she served until 2003.

Between 2003 and 2012, she served as president of JICA, a position previously held by officials from the Foreign Ministry. Known for her hands-on approach, Ogata helped bolster JICA's presence abroad, leading to an increase in support for developing countries in Africa, among other reforms.

Ogata was a recipient of the UNESCO Felix Houphovet-Boigny Peace Prize, the Asahi Prize Special Award and the Japanese Order of Culture.