Secretary-General Appoints Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon today announced the appointment of Oscar Fernandez-Taranco of Argentina as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support. 

Mr. Fernandez-Taranco will succeed Judy Cheng-Hopkins, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for her dedication and able leadership.

With more than 30 years of experience in the United Nations System, Mr. Fernandez-Taranco worked both at Headquarters and in the field, managing development, political, peacebuilding, human rights and humanitarian operations in Africa, Latin America and the Caribbean, the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific and Europe.

Prior to his appointment, he was Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs in the Department of Political Affairs since July 2009.  He also served as United Nations Resident Coordinator and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) Resident Representative in the United Republic of Tanzania.

From 1994 to 1998, he served as Deputy Special Representative of the Administrator in the West Bank and Gaza Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People.  He was also the Deputy Assistant Administrator and Deputy Regional Director in the Regional Bureau for Arab States, UNDP, from 2001 to 2006, and Resident Representative, United Nations Resident Coordinator and Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti from 1998 to 2001.

Mr. Fernandez-Taranco was educated at Cornell University, where he studied economics, and at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, studying urban regional economic planning.

Born in 1957, he is married and has two children.

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*     This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1177-BIO/4071-PA/5 of 25 March 2009.