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▶ Office of the Under-Secretary-General
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Jean-Pierre Lacroix Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations Mr. Jean-Pierre Lacroix is the Under-Secretary-General for Peace Operations. Mr. Lacroix brings to the position over 25 years of political and diplomatic experience, with a focus on multilateral organizations, and on United Nations activities and programmes. Mr. Lacroix served from 2014 to 2017 as Director for United Nations, International Organizations, Human Rights and Francophonie at the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs. His previous appointments include Ambassador of France to Sweden, Chief of Protocol of France, Deputy Permanent Representative at the Permanent Mission of France to the United Nations in New York, Deputy Chief of Mission at the French Embassy in Prague and First Secretary then Second Counsellor at the French Embassy in Washington. He also served as Advisor at the Cabinet of the French Prime Minister. Born on 2 May 1960, Mr. Lacroix holds BAs from the Institute of Economic and Commercial Sciences (ESSEC), the Institute for Political Studies - Sciences Po Paris and the National School of Administration (ENA), as a graduate of the Class “Michel de Montaigne.” Download photos of USG Lacroix
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▶ Office of Rule of Law and Security Institutions
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Alexandre Zouev Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions Mr. Alexandre Zouev is the current Assistant Secretary-General for Rule of Law and Security Institutions. Mr. Zouev joined the United Nations in 1990 and has served with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) and the United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS). From June 2016 until his current position, he was the Global Programme Manager and Special Adviser on Prevention of Violent Extremism with UNDP. Before that, he was the United Nations Resident Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Tajikistan between 2011 and 2016. With UNICEF, Mr. Zouev served as Representative in Kazakhstan from 2008 to 2011, having previously held a number of managerial positions at UNICEF Headquarters, covering Central Asia and the Baltics, as well as United Nations and Intergovernmental Affairs. During his time as Principal Adviser to the Executive Director of UNOPS (2003-2004), Mr. Zouev also served as United Nations Senior Coordinator leading development of the Interagency Post-Crisis Needs Assessment for Haiti, in Port-au-Prince. Prior to joining the United Nations, he worked as a Dean at his alma mater, the Moscow State Institute/University for International Relations (MGIMO) while also serving in his country’s diplomatic service from 1987 to 1990, working primarily on United Nations, as well as social and economic development, issues. Mr. Zouev graduated cum laude in 1980, also earning a Ph.D. in development economics from MGIMO in 1983. He has authored numerous books and articles on social and economic aspects of development.
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Faisal Shahkar Police Advisor Faisal Shahkar of Pakistan serves as the United Nations Police Adviser in the Department of Peace Operations. Mr. Shahkar brings to the position more than 30 years of national and international experience. Most recently, he served as Inspector General of Police in Pakistan and held several senior positions with the Pakistan Police, including as Additional Inspector of Police in the Punjab (2015-2018), as well as Regional Police Chief (2014-15). Mr. Shahkar has more than nine years of experience with the United Nations at Headquarters and the field where he most recently served as Team Leader within the United Nations Standing Police Capacity (2020-2021). He further served with the Department of Peace Operations’ Police Division, backstopping field operations (2011-2013 and 2005-2008), the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) (2004-2005) and the United Nations Mission in Bosnia and Herzegovina (UNMIBH) (2000-2002). Mr. Shahkar is a graduate of the University of London, United Kingdom with a master’s degree in law (L.L.M). He also holds a master’s degree in political science from the University of the Punjab, Pakistan. He is fluent in English and Urdu.
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Major General Cheryl Pearce Acting Military Adviser Major General Cheryl Pearce of Australia is the Acting Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations, and brings to this position more than 35 years of military experience. Prior to her current appointment, Major General Pearce served as the Deputy Military Adviser for Peacekeeping Operations, the Deputy Chief of the Australian Army and as the Force Commander, United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus from 2019 to 2021. Major General Pearce previously held positions as the Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy (2017-2018), the Commander of the Australian Joint Task Force in Afghanistan (2016), the Australian Army Headquarters Chief of Staff (2013-2016) and as the Director of Special Operations Support (2010-2012). Major General Pearce also served as Commandant of the Defence Police Training Centre and Commanding Officer of the 1st Military Police Battalion. Major General Pearce was the Australian Army’s Provost-Marshal as well as a Military Observer with the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor in 2002. Major General Pearce holds a Bachelor of Arts in Asian Studies from the University of New England in Armidale, a Masters in Policing, Intelligence and Counter-Terrorism from the Macquarie University in Sydney and a Masters of Arts in Defence Studies from the Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia.
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▶ Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Africa
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Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee Assistant Secretary-General for Africa United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 21 May 2021 the appointment of Martha Ama Akyaa Pobee of Ghana as Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations (DPPA-DPO). Ms. Pobee succeeds Bintou Keita of Guinea, who took up a new assignment as the Secretary-General’s Special Representative in the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Head of the United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (MONUSCO). The Secretary-General is deeply grateful for her service and contributions as the first Assistant Secretary-General for Africa in DPPA-DPO. A career diplomat, Ms. Pobee brings more than 30 years of experience in international affairs and diplomacy with her Foreign Ministry. Currently Chief Director of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Regional Integration, she was previously Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Ghana to the United Nations from 2015 until 2020. In that position, she performed various special assignments, including as the Chair of the African Group of Ambassadors in New York, Vice-President of the 71st Session of the United Nations General Assembly, Chair of the New York Group of Friends of the African - Women Leaders Network, Co-Facilitator of the High-level meeting on Financing for Development 2019, and Co-Chair of the Group of Friends on Gender Parity at the United Nations, among others. Ms. Pobee previously served as Deputy Head of Mission and Chargé d’affaires at the Ghana High Commission in Pretoria (2012 to 2015), Director of the Information and Public Affairs Bureau at the Ministry for Foreign Affairs (2010 to 2012) and Head of Chancery at the Ghanaian Embassy in Washington, D.C. (2006 to 2010). She was Acting Director of the Bureaux for Human Resources and Administration (2006) and for Information, Culture and Linguistics (2004 to 2006). Posted to the Ghanaian Embassy in Tel Aviv in 2000, she served as Minister-Counsellor and Deputy Head of Mission (2002 to 2004), and as Chargé d’affaires (2000 to 2002). Ms. Pobee also served as Acting Director of the Personnel and Training Bureau (1998 to 2000), having been posted to Ghana’s Permanent Mission to the Office of the United Nations in Geneva (1995 to 1998) and to the Embassy in Moscow, where she was First Secretary (1994 to 1995). A graduate of the University of Ghana, Ms. Pobee also holds a master’s degree in Development Studies with a specialization in Women and Development from the Institute of Social Studies in the Hague. She also has diplomas in Public Administration and Multilateral Diplomacy from the Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration and the Geneva Institute of International Studies.
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▶ Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas
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Miroslav Jenča Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas On 12 March 2015, United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Miroslav Jenča of Slovakia as Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. Mr. Jenča succeeds Jens Toyberg-Frandzen of Denmark who was appointed Assistant Secretary-General ad interim for Political Affairs in November 2014. The Secretary-General is grateful to Mr. Toyberg-Frandzen for his leadership and acumen in the position. As Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs, Mr. Jenča will be responsible, inter alia, for overseeing the divisions in the Department of Political Affairs dealing with the Americas, Asia and the Pacific, Europe and the Middle East and West Asia, as well as the Decolonization Unit and the Division for Palestinian Rights. Mr. Jenča has served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan, since 2008. He was previously Director of the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, as well as Ambassador and Head of Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) Centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan. He served as Ambassador and Representative of Slovakia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union and Ambassador of Slovakia to Mexico, Venezuela and Colombia, including positions in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovakia and diplomatic missions in Ireland and Mexico. Mr. Jenča holds a Doctor of Law degree from Comenius University in Bratislava. He studied foreign trade at the University of Economics in Bratislava, diplomacy and international relations at Moscow State Institute of International Relations, and diplomacy at Stanford University. Born in 1965, he is married and has two children.
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▶ Office of the Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific
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Mohamed Khaled Khiari Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 28 May 2019 the appointment of Khaled Mohamed Khiari of Tunisia, as Assistant Secretary-General for Middle East, Asia and the Pacific in the Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations. Currently Director General of Americas, Asia and Oceania in the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Mr. Khiari brings over 35 years of experience in diplomacy and foreign affairs alternating between his Foreign Ministry headquarters and overseas postings. He served inter alia as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Tunisia to the United Nations in New York (2012-2018), Director of Human Rights within the Department of International Organizations and Conferences at the Tunisian Ministry of Foreign Affairs (2011-2012), Chargé de Mission in the Ministry of Youth and Sports (2009-2010), Deputy Director, Euromed, within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs Europe Directorate (2007-2009), Deputy Head of Mission (2003–2006) and Secretary of Foreign Affairs with the Permanent Mission of Tunisia to the United Nations Office in Geneva (1987-1993) and the Ministry’s Department of Maghreb Countries (1984). Mr. Khiari participated in numerous multilateral and regional activities during his career with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, notably as Co-Chair of the Intergovernmental Negotiations on Security Council Reform, President of the Executive Board of UN-WOMEN, Vice-President of the United Nations General Assembly, Non-Aligned Movement Coordinator of the Peacebuilding Commission in New York, President of the African Group of experts to the World Summit on Information Society in Geneva and Coordinator of the Arab group on European Parliament issues in Brussels. He is a graduate of the Higher Institute of Management of Tunis, where he earned a master’s degree in Management, specializing in marketing. Born in 1960, Mr. Khiari is married and has two children.
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▶ Policy, Evaluation and Training Division
▶ Office of Peacekeeping Strategic Partnerships
▶ Office of the Director for Coordination and Shared Services