Nationality Dutch | Name Sigrid Kaag | |
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Children Makram Kaag, Janna Kaag, Adam Kaag, Inas Kaag Profiles | ||
Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag speaks to the press
Sigrid A.M. Kaag (born 1961) is a Dutch diplomat working for the United Nations. Since January 2015, she serves as the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), following Derek Plumbly.
Contents
- Special Coordinator Sigrid Kaag speaks to the press
- Cisd annual lecture by sigrid kaag soas university of london
- Career
- Destruction of Syrias chemical weapons
- Personal life
- References
Prior to that she served as Under Secretary-General and Special Coordinator of the United Nations – Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (UN-OPCW) Joint Mission to eliminate the declared chemical weapons programme of the Syrian Arab Republic between October 2013 and September 2014. Until her mission in Syria she was employed as Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme.
Cisd annual lecture by sigrid kaag soas university of london
Career
Kaag earned a Master of Philosophy in International Relations on the Middle East from the University of Exeter; she also has a Master in International Relations from St Antony's College, University of Oxford. She also received foreign relations training at the Clingendael Institute in The Hague. After her studies Kaag worked for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs as Deputy Head of the UN Political Affairs Department. Later she worked for Royal Dutch Shell in London, United Kingdom.
She started working for the United Nations in 1994 and from 1998 to 2004 she was Chief of Donor Relations for the International Organization for Migration, and Senior Programme Manager with the External Relations Office of UNRWA. Working in the Middle East she was responsible for areas as the occupied Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria. From 2007 to May 2010 she was Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF. In May 2010 she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme. Between October 2013 and September 2014, she was head of the joint Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations mission for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. On 1 December 2014, the UN Secretary General announced that Kaag would become the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL), succeeding Sir Derek Plumbly.
In September 2016 Kaag was awarded the Wateler Peace Prize of the Dutch Carnegie Foundation.
Destruction of Syria's chemical weapons
On 13 October 2013 United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon nominated her to lead the joint Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons-United Nations mission for the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons. The United Nations Security Council was set to vote on her nomination three days after her nomination, on 16 October. She was then officially confirmed for the position. Kaag led a team of hundred experts who were responsible for ensuring the destruction of Syria's chemical weapons programme before 30 June 2014.
Personal life
Kaag is married with four children. Her husband, Anis al-Qaq, is Palestinian and used to be the Palestinian representative to Switzerland. She speaks six languages: Dutch, English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic. She has been the first UN Special Representative of the Secretary-General featured in the Vogue fashion and lifestyle Magazine.