Sigrid Kaag
Under-Secretary-General

Ms. Kaag of the Netherlands serves as the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and the Secretary-General’s Personal Representative to the Palestine Liberation Organization and the Palestinian Authority ad interim. 

Ms. Kaag’s role as Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process ad interim will be concurrent with her present mandate as the Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza, pursuant to Security Council resolution 2720 (2023).

She brings a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs, as well as in diplomacy.  Most recently, she served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and first female Minister of Finance in the Dutch government (2022-2024).  Prior to this, she was Dutch Minister for Trade and Development Cooperation (2017-2021), and Minister for Foreign Affairs (2021). 

Ms. Kaag has held a wide range of senior positions in the United Nations system, notably as United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (2015-2017) and Special Coordinator of the Joint Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and the United Nations Mission in Syria (2013-2015).  She served as Assistant Secretary-General with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) (2010-2013) and as Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa with the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Jordan (2007-2010).  Prior to that, Ms. Kaag served in several senior positions with the International Organization for Migration (IOM), and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA).

Ms. Kaag holds a Master of Art in Middle East Studies from the University of Exeter, UK, a Master of Philosophy in International Relations from Oxford University, UK, and a Bachelor of Arts in Middle East Studies from the American University in Cairo, Egypt.  She speaks Dutch, German, French, English, Spanish and Arabic.

Sarah Poole
Assistant Secretary-General

Ms. Poole of the United States serves as the Deputy Special Coordinator and UN Resident Coordinator, Office of the United Nations Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process (UNSCO) on an ad interim basis. Ms. Poole also serves as the Humanitarian Coordinator ad interim and she is the Designated Official ad interim.

Ms. Poole brings 30 years of experience working globally in development and humanitarian contexts. Since 1999, she has served in numerous leadership position in the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), most recently through her appointment in August 2023 as the Special Representative of the Administrator to the Programme of Assistance for the Palestinian People. Previously, since 2018 she served as UNDP's Deputy Regional Director for the Arab States region, including her tenure as Regional Director ad interim at the ASG level from February 2020 to February 2021. Ms. Poole has also served as the Deputy Director of the Bureau for Programme and Policy Support; Senior Advisor for the Europe and CIS Region; Resident Representative a.i. and Deputy Resident Representative in Turkey; Team Leader for the Western Balkans, Turkey and Cyprus; Senior Advisor in the Bureau for External Relations and Advocacy; and the global team leader for post-crisis socio-economic and community recovery.

Before joining UNDP, Ms. Poole served as the Regional Refugee Coordinator/Deputy with the US Department of State's Bureau for Population, Refugees and Migration in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia-Montenegro between 1996 and 1999; and with USAID's Office of US Foreign Disaster Assistance in Rwanda, Burundi, and Bosnia-Herzegovina from 1994 to 1996. Ms. Poole holds a MSc in Government from the London School of Economics and Political Science; a BA in Political Science from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor; and has served as an Adjunct Professor at Columbia University's School for International and Public Affairs, focused on the nexus between crisis, peacebuilding, and development.