The United Nations on Wednesday appointed UK diplomat and academic Tom Fletcher as the new head of its humanitarian affairs agency, against a backdrop of major international crises.
Fletcher's appointment as UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator, Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) was announced on Wednesday by UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, the UN said in a statement.
He succeeds fellow Briton Martin Griffiths, who is suffering from health problems. Griffiths had been at the head of the sprawling humanitarian organisation, usually run by British nationals, since 2021.
The date on which Fletcher will take up his post has not yet been determined, a UN spokesperson told a press briefing at the organisation's headquarters in New York.
Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs Joyce Msuya of Tanzania will continue as interim head of Ocha in the meantime, the spokesperson said.
Tom Fletcher,s currently Head of Hertford College at Oxford University, previously held a number of overseas posts in the UK Foreign Office, the UN said in the statement.
He was UK ambassador to Lebanon between 2011 and 2015, adviser on foreign and development policy to three of his country's prime ministers, and mediator on Northern Ireland.
Fletcher also worked for the government of former Labour Prime Minister Gordon Brown on access to education for refugees.
