Secretary-General Appoints Ghada Fathi Waly of Egypt Executive Director, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime

United Nations Secretary‑General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Ghada Fathi Waly of Egypt as the next Executive Director of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC).  Ms. Waly will also serve as Director‑General of the United Nations Office at Vienna.  She succeeds Yury V. Fedotov of the Russian Federation, to whom the Secretary‑General is grateful for his dedicated service to the Organization.

Ms. Waly brings to the position over 30 years of experience in the field of sustainable development, poverty reduction and social protection, and women and youth empowerment.  Currently Minister for Social Solidarity, a position she assumed in 2014, Ms. Waly has developed the national anti‑drug strategy, led a nationwide drug awareness and prevention campaign among youth and pioneered innovative programmes to rehabilitate and reintegrate persons with substance use disorders into society.

In her current role, she also serves as Coordinator of the Inter‑Ministerial Committee for Social Justice, Chairperson of the National Centre for Social and Criminological Research and chairs the Executive Council of Arab Ministers of Social Affairs in the League of Arab States.

Her previous leadership positions include Managing Director of the Social Fund for Development (2011‑2014), Assistant Resident Representative at the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Egypt (2004‑2011) and Program Director of CARE International in Egypt (2000‑2004).

Ms. Waly holds a master’s degree in humanities and Bachelor of Arts in foreign languages and literature from the Colorado State University.  She is fluent in Arabic, English and French and has a working knowledge of Spanish.