Secretary-General Appoints Major General Cheryl Pearce of Australia Commander of United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Major General Cheryl Pearce of Australia as Force Commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP).
Major General Pearce succeeds Major General Mohammad Humayun Kabir of Bangladesh, who completed his assignment on 6 October. The Secretary-General is grateful to Major General Kabir for his dedication and leadership during his two years of service in UNFICYP.
With a distinguished career in the Australian Defence Force, Major General Pearce was most recently Commandant of the Australian Defence Force Academy (since 2017), which provides undergraduate and post-graduate education as well as military training and education for future leaders of the Navy, Army and Air Force.
In 2016, Major General Pearce was the Commander of the Australian Joint Task Force Group in Afghanistan, providing training, advice and assistance to the Afghan National Defence and Security Forces as part of the Resolute Support Mission of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). Between 2013 and 2016, she served as Chief of Staff of the Australian Army headquarters and, from 2010 to 2012, as Director of Special Operations Support.
Major General Pearce also held the positions of Commandant of the Defence Police Training Centre and Commanding Officer of the 1st Military Police Battalion. Additionally, she served as the Australian Army’s Provost-Marshal and as a military observer with the United Nations Mission of Support in East Timor (UNMISET) in 2002.
The holder of a Bachelor of Arts degree in Asian Studies from the University of New England in Armidale, Major General Pearce also earned a master’s degree in policing, intelligence and counter-terrorism from Macquarie University in Sydney and a Master of Arts in defence studies from Deakin University in Melbourne.
Born in South Australia, Major General Pearce has a partner and two daughters.