UNITED NATIONS, NEW YORK — The Secretary-General of the United Nations has approved the appointment of Mari Simonen as Deputy Executive Director, External Relations, United Nations Affairs and Management of UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund. She has assumed office and will focus on United Nations reforms, in particular.

Ms. Simonen, of Finland, was most recently the Director of UNFPA’s Technical Support Division, a post she had held since November 1999. In that capacity, she oversaw staff comprised of international technical experts in public health; reproductive health; HIV/AIDS; population studies; gender and human rights; and other specialized areas of work in support of population and development issues worldwide.

Prior to that position, Ms. Simonen was the Chief of the Office of the Executive Director at UNFPA, a strategic position from which she helped the Executive Director carry out her functions as the secretary-general of the historic 1994 Cairo International Conference on Population and Development.

Before joining the United Nations in 1980, Ms. Simonen worked at the University of California, Berkeley. She holds a doctorate degree from that university in Education. She has a master’s degree from Stanford University in Sociology of Education as well as a bachelor’s degree in Sociology from the same institution.

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UNFPA, the United Nations Population Fund is an international development agency that promotes the right of every woman, man and child to enjoy a life of health and equal opportunity. UNFPA supports countries in using population data for policies and programmes to reduce poverty and to ensure that every pregnancy is wanted, every birth is safe, every young person is free of HIV/AIDS, and every girl and woman is treated with dignity and respect.

Contact Information:

Abubakar Dungus
Tel.: +1 (212) 297-5031
Email: dungus@unfpa.org

Omar Gharzeddine
Tel.: +1 (212) 297-5028
Email: gharzeddine@unfpa.org