Well-informed sources told Asharq Al-Awsat that UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres has named Swiss Philippe Lazzarini to be the next commissioner-general of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).
The organization provides services in the fields of education, health, shelter, and relief to more than five million registered refugees in the West Bank, Gaza Strip and East Jerusalem, in addition to refugees in neighboring countries such as Jordan, Lebanon, and Syria.
A senior diplomat at the Security Council told Asharq Al-Awsat that the selection was decided on Monday, explaining that the appointment file was referred to the UNRWA Advisory Committee.
On April 24, 2015, former UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon appointed Lazzarini as the UN deputy special coordinator for Lebanon, in the office of then-UN Special Coordinator, Dutch Sigrid Kaag, who is currently Minister of Foreign Trade and Cooperation for Development of her country.
Lazzarini has extensive experience in humanitarian assistance and international coordination in conflict and post-conflict areas.
He has served as deputy to the Special Representative for the UN Assistance Mission in Somalia, also as a resident representative and humanitarian coordinator.
Before that, Lazzarini held several senior positions in the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, and various field missions in Iraq, Angola, Somalia, and the Occupied Palestinian Territories.
Before joining the United Nations in 2003, Lazzarini headed the marketing department of a private bank in Geneva. He also worked for 10 years with the ICRC as deputy head of communications, head of the ICRC delegation in Rwanda, Angola and Sarajevo, and an ICRC delegate in South Sudan, Jordan, Gaza, and Beirut.
UNRWA has been facing budget problems since last year after the United States, the agency’s largest donor, announced it would halt its annual $360 million-aid.
Support from Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, in particular, has contributed to saving many of the organization’s programs.
