Middle-East

UN names outgoing Dutch minister humanitarian coordinator for Gaza

Sigrid Kaag, outgoing Minister of Finance, looks on in the House of Representatives in The Hague on September 19, 2023. (Photo by Phil Nijhuis / ANP / AFP)

By UN News | Wednesday, December 27, 2023

Kaag will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify aid consignments to the embittered enclave, in line with a recent Security Council resolution.

A veteran Dutch diplomat and politician who previously held top UN positions has been appointed Senior Humanitarian Coordinator for Gaza, UN Secretary-General António Guterres announced on Tuesday.

Holland's outgoing Deputy Prime Minister Sigrid Kaag will facilitate, coordinate, monitor and verify aid consignments to the embittered enclave, in line with a recent Security Council resolution.

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She will also establish a mechanism to accelerate humanitarian relief shipments through States that are not party to the conflict.

She is expected to take up the assignment on 8 January.

Wide-ranging experience

Kaag has a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs, as well as in diplomacy.

Most recently, she served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and first woman Finance Minister in the Dutch government since January 2022. Prior to this, she was Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation from October 2017 to May 2021, and Minister for Foreign Affairs until that September.

Her other achievements include being elected leader of the social liberal party D66 in September 2020, which she led to victory in elections held the following March.

Ms. Kaag has held a wide range of senior positions in the UN system. She served as Special Coordinator for Lebanon from 2015 to 2017, and before this was the Special Coordinator of the Joint Mission of the Organization for Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW) and the UN in Syria.

Her other posts have included Assistant Secretary‑General with the UN Development Programme from 2010 to 2013, and Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa with the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF) from 2007 to 2010.

Prior to that, Ms. Kaag served in several senior positions with UNICEF, the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the UN agency that assists Palestine refugees, UNRWA.

On Friday, the UN Security Council adopted resolution 2070 which, among other points, demands immediate, safe and unhindered delivery of humanitarian assistance at scale directly to Palestinian civilians throughout the Gaza Strip.

The resolution requested the Secretary-General to appoint a Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator and called for the “expeditious” establishment of the UN mechanism to ramp up aid distribution.