Secretary-General appoints Mô Bleeker of Switzerland Special Adviser on Responsibility to Protect

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Mô Bleeker of Switzerland as his Special Adviser on the Responsibility to Protect.  Ms. Bleeker will succeed George William Okoth-Obbo of Uganda, to whom the Secretary-General is deeply grateful.

Ms. Bleeker most recently served as Special Envoy for Dealing with the Past and Prevention of Atrocities at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs, where she has been working in different positions since 2003. She also worked in Colombia as Special Envoy for the Peace Process between the National Liberation Army and the Colombian Government and the implementation of the Peace Agreement between the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia and the Government.

Ms. Bleeker has chaired the Prevention Platform-Global Action against Mass Atrocity Crimes, the Transitional Justice and Reconciliation Commission of the Peace Agreement on the Bangsamoro in the Philippines and presided on the International Advisory Board of the National Historical Memory Commission in Colombia.  Furthermore, she has accompanied complex transition processes in Central America, Colombia, the Balkans, South-, South-East- and Central Asia, as well as in several countries in Africa.

Ms. Bleeker studied anthropology, religion sciences, journalism and social communication and holds a post-graduate diploma in development studies from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva, Switzerland.  In addition to Dutch and French, she speaks English, German and Spanish.