Permanent Observer for International Committee of Red Cross Presents Letter of Appointment

(Based on information provided by the Protocol and Liaison Service)

Robert Mardini, the new Permanent Observer and Head of Delegation for the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), presented his letter of appointment to UN Secretary-General António Guterres today.

Prior to his latest appointment, Mr. Mardini was the ICRC’s Regional Director for the Near and Middle East since July 2012, overseeing strategic guidance for the organization’s operations across its nine delegations in the region.  Between 2010 and 2012, he served as ICRC Deputy Director-General, a role in which he contributed to the International Committee’s organizational development and oversaw major institution-wide projects, while helping to guide its strategic direction on management as well as operational and programming issues.

Mr. Mardini headed the ICRC’s Water and Habitat Unit from 2007 to 2010 and was its Deputy Head from 2003 to 2007.  He has also served as the organization’s Acting Water and Habitat Coordinator in Iraq, a Water and Habitat Engineer and Programme Coordinator, also in that country, and as a Water and Habitat Engineer in Rwanda.

A civil engineer by training, Mr. Mardini began his career as a research assistant at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology.

He holds a Master of Science degree (1996) and a Bachelor’s degree (1995) from the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, as well as a Baccalaureate in mathematics and science from the Lycée Français in Tripoli, Lebanon (1990).

Born in 1972, he is married and has two children.