Biographical Note

Secretary-General Appoints Karin Landgren of Sweden

 

Special Representative for Liberia

 

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Karin Landgren of Sweden as his Special Representative for Liberia.

She will replace Ellen Margrethe Løj of Denmark, who completed her assignment in January.  The Secretary-General is grateful for Ms. Løj’s dedicated service and important contribution to the Liberian peace process over the past four years. 

Ms. Landgren is currently the Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Burundi and Head of the United Nations Mission in Burundi (BNUB).  Until January 2011, she served as Representative of the Secretary-General to Nepal, where she oversaw the implementation of the mandate and eventual closure of the special political mission. 

Ms Landgren brings to the position of Special Representative of the Secretary-General to Liberia and Head of the United Nations Mission in Liberia (UNMIL) many years of political, development, resource-mobilization, managerial and international law experience with the United Nations.  She worked extensively on humanitarian and refugee issues as the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) representative in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Eritrea and Singapore, and during postings to India and the Philippines, before serving as the Organization’s legal adviser in 1994-1998.  Between 1998 and 2008, she served as the first head of child protection for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF).

Ms. Landgren has published and lectured on post-conflict, humanitarian, refugee and child-protection issues, and holds a Bachelor of Science (Economics) in international relations and a master’s degree in international law from the London School of Economics. 

Born in 1957, she has two children.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1274-AFR/2089-BIO/4262 of 31 December 2010.

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