SECRETARY-GENERAL DEEPLY SADDENED BY DEATH OF SHARON CAPELING-ALAKIJA, HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS

SECRETARY-GENERAL DEEPLY SADDENED BY DEATH OF SHARON CAPELING-ALAKIJA,

HEAD OF UNITED NATIONS VOLUNTEERS

The following statement was issued today by the Spokesman for Secretary-General Kofi Annan:

The Secretary-General was deeply saddened by the death of Sharon Capeling-Alakija, the Executive Coordinator of the United Nations Volunteer Programme.  Ms. Capeling-Alakija was a deeply committed and creative leader of United Nations Volunteers, which promotes volunteerism, sends some 5,000 United Nations Volunteers into the field every year and is often described as the “human face” of United Nations development efforts.  In that post -- as well as in her previous positions as Director of Evaluation and Strategic Planning in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Director of the United Nations Development Fund for Women -- she understood the need for the United Nations to reach out as widely as possible and engage people from all walks of life in the Organization’s work.  Ms. Capeling-Alakija will be sorely missed by her many, many friends in the United Nations family, and by many thousands of United Nations Volunteers, past and present, around the world.

* *** *