Guterres names new UN deputy coordinator for West Bank

NEW YORK – United Nations Secretary-General Antonio Guterres announced the appointment of Jamie McGoldrick of Ireland as the new deputy special coordinator for the Middle East peace process, the United Nations resident coordinator and the humanitarian coordinator for the occupied Palestinian territory.

McGoldrick will succeed Australian diplomat Robert Piper, whom Guterres thanked personally on Tuesday for his “commitment and dedicated service.”

The Irish official has served as United Nations resident coordinator, humanitarian coordinator and United Nations Development Program resident representative for the Republic of Yemen since 2015.

“He assumed this position after serving as the resident coordinator and the UNDP resident representative in Nepal since 2013 and resident coordinator and resident representative of UNDP in Georgia from 2009 to 2013,” according to a statement released by Guterres’s office.

The statement adds that McGoldrick had previously served as a senior manager with the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, notably as the chief of the Humanitarian Reform Support Unit (2006-2009), and section chief for the Middle East, North Africa and Great Lakes Unit (2005-2006).

He worked with the International Red Cross movement and nongovernmental organizations in a number of countries in Africa and as a news producer and researcher with several TV production companies in the United Kingdom.

Born in Ireland in 1955, McGoldrick holds a master’s degree in political science and a bachelor’s degree in social sciences and he has additional qualifications in disaster management, preventive diplomacy and mediation.

McGoldrick will work directly under current Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process Nickolay Mladenov from Bulgaria, who has led the office since February 2015.