Secretary-General Appoints Lynn Hastings of Canada Deputy Special Coordinator for Middle East Peace Process

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Lynn Hastings of Canada as Deputy Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process.  She will also serve as United Nations Resident Coordinator and Humanitarian Coordinator for the Occupied Palestinian Territory, succeeding Jamie McGoldrick of Ireland, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his commitment and dedicated service.

Ms. Hastings brings to her new position more than 20 years of experience in humanitarian affairs, development coordination and political affairs.  Since 2018 she has served as Deputy Director in the Operations and Advocacy Division of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in New York.

Previously, she was Senior Adviser in the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) between 2014 and 2018, Country Director for Pakistan in the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs from 2011 to 2014, and Chief of Staff in the Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process from 2003 until 2011.

Ms. Hastings has also served as United Nations representative to the Office of the Middle East Quartet Envoy for the Gaza Disengagement, and in senior roles in the United Nations peacekeeping missions in Kosovo and East Timor, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) and the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

Prior to joining the United Nations, she practised law in the private sector and conducted legal research for the International Commission of Jurists.

Born in Canada, Ms. Hastings holds a Master of Laws degree from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom, as well as a Bachelor of Laws and a Bachelor of Arts from the University of Windsor in Canada.