Biographical Note

SECRETARY-GENERAL APPOINTS JEAN-MARIE FAKHOURI OF LEBANON

 

AS DEPUTY SPECIAL REPRESENTATIVE FOR IRAQ

 

United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan today announced the appointment of Jean-Marie Fakhouri of Lebanon as his Deputy Special Representative for Iraq (Humanitarian, Reconstruction and Development). 

For over 25 years, Mr. Fakhouri has managed humanitarian operations and complex emergencies, while serving in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).  For the past two years, he has been UNHCR Director of Operations for the Sudan situation, directing activities of 840 UNHCR staff in the Sudan and neighbouring countries, and addressing the needs of Sudanese refugees, returnees and internally displaced persons.

During his tenure at UNHCR, Mr. Fakhouri has served in various capacities, both at the Geneva headquarters and in the field.  He was Director of the Regional Bureau for Asia and the Pacific from July 2001 to July 2004).  During that period, he also served as Regional Coordinator for the Iraq Situation (December 2002 - May 2003).  He was Controller and Director of the Division of Resource Management (January 1999 - June 2001); Controller and Director of the Division of Financial and Information Services (June 1995 - December 1998); and Deputy Director, then Acting Director, of the Regional Bureau for South West Asia, North Africa and the Middle East (October 1991 - June 1995).

As Deputy Representative of UNHCR in Kuala Lumpur (1986 - 1989), Mr. Fakhouri managed operational activities for Vietnamese, Cambodian and Filipino refugees.  Prior to that, from 1984 to 1986, he was Assistant Representative of UNHCR in Somalia, in charge of a multi-sectoral programme to provide assistance to Ethiopian refugees in 36 camps.

Mr. Fakhouri is fluent in English, French and Arabic.

A Lebanese national, he was born in Egypt on 27 May 1950.

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