Trivia

Met Carolina Larriera in East Timor, and by the time the mission came to an end, they had been with each other for three years. Carolina and Sergio were engaged and were to be married after coming back home from Baghdad, in a mission that ultimately led to his death.

Has two children from his relationship to Annie Personnaz, whom he had been separated since the late 1980s: Laurent Vieira de Mello (b. 1978) and Adrien Vieira de Mello (b. 1980).

Upon learning of Vieira de Mello's death, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva declared three days of mourning in his honor. The Government of Brazil also posthumously instituted the Sergio Vieira de Mello Medal to honor his legacy in promoting sustainable peace, international security and better living conditions for individuals in situations of armed conflict, challenges to which Vieira de Mello had dedicated his life and career.

He worked for more than 34 years in several United Nations humanitarian and political programs. Before his death, he was considered a likely candidate for UN Secretary-General.

Despite his stated wishes to be buried in Rio de Janeiro, his hometown and for 34 years, the place of his home leave, and where he was given a state funeral with full military honors that was attended by president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, and other international dignitaries, his body was taken away from Brazil and Vieira de Mello was buried at the Cimetière des Rois in Geneva, Switzerland.

Parents are Gilda dos Santos and Arnaldo Vieira de Mello, a former Brazilian diplomat. He has an older sister named Sônia.

Sergio was named the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights in September 11, 2002. He came to be the third person ever to occupy the position, identified as the "Conscience of the World".

During the 70s, he wrote a piece for a French newspaper against the dictatorship that ruled Brazil at the time and was not allowed in the country for four years.

He was fluent in Portuguese, French, English, Spanish and Italian.

He was described as a combination of James Bond and Bobby Kennedy.

He participated in the 1968 student riots in Paris against the Charles de Gaulle government, and was hit in the head by a police baton, causing a permanent disfigurement above his right eye.