Secretary-General Appoints Niels Scott of United Kingdom United Nations Resident Coordinator in Liberia

On 1 January, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed Niels Scott of the United Kingdom as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Liberia, with the host Government’s approval.

Mr. Scott has more than 25 years of experience in international cooperation, development coordination, humanitarian assistance, crisis management and peacebuilding support, acquired at the United Nations and externally.  Within the Organization, he served most recently as Acting United Nations Resident Coordinator in Burundi, after holding a similar position in Indonesia.  Mr. Scott previously was Resident Coordinator and Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Georgia.

He also held leadership positions with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, including Head of Office in Libya and Côte d’Ivoire; Acting Head of Office in Haiti; and Chief of Humanitarian Coordination Support, as well as Disaster and Vulnerability Policy.  With the United Nations Mission in the Sudan (UNMIS), Mr. Scott was Head of the Regional Office for Darfur and of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs Darfur Cell.

Before joining the United Nations, he worked with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) for 15 years, including as Operations Coordinator, Representative for Haiti, Head of the Regional Delegation for Central Asia, then West and Central Africa, Head of Delegation in Georgia, Relief Coordinator in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Logistics Officer in Croatia.  He also served with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) as Programme Coordinator in Croatia and held other positions in the non-governmental and private sectors.

Mr. Scott holds a degree in social science and politics from the University of Edinburgh in the United Kingdom.