Secretary-General Appoints Georgette Gagnon of Canada Deputy Special Representative (Political) for Afghanistan

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres today announced the appointment of Georgette Gagnon of Canada as his new Deputy Special Representative (Political) for Afghanistan in the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA).

Ms. Gagnon succeeds Markus Potzel of Germany, to whom the Secretary-General is grateful for his dedicated service in support of the mandate of the Mission.

Ms. Gagnon brings to the position more than 28 years of experience in supporting peacebuilding processes and leading strategic initiatives on human rights, humanitarian action and development in conflict and post-conflict settings.  Since 2021, Ms. Gagnon has served as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Libya in the United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) and Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Libya.

Prior to her service in UNSMIL, she worked as Director of Field Operations and Technical Cooperation in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), where she led the work of the Office’s field presences globally.  From 2010 to 2015, Ms. Gagnon served as Director of Human Rights for UNAMA based in Kabul.  She also held positions of Director and Senior Adviser on protection of civilians, human rights and the rule of law with the United Nations, national Governments and non-governmental organizations in Africa, Syria and the Balkans.

Ms. Gagnon holds a bachelor of laws from Osgoode Hall Law School-York University in Toronto, Canada, and a master of laws in international human rights law from the University of Essex in the United Kingdom.

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* This supersedes Press Release SG/A/1996 of 21 December 2020.