On Tuesday, 22 April, the Secretary-General announced the appointment of Ian Martin of the United Kingdom as Head of the Strategic Assessment, as part of his?Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ80 initiative, of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA).
The Secretary-General is tasking Mr. Martin with conducting the strategic assessment in order to review Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵRWA¡¯s impact; implementation of its mandate under present political, financial, security and other constraints; and, consequences and risks, for Palestine refugees.?
He has further been tasked with identifying options for action, by Member States and/or the United Nations, and considering overall United Nations mandates provided by the General Assembly and the Security Council.
Mr. Martin has had a distinguished service within the United Nations. ?He was involved in a number of strategic reviews, most recently as the Lead of the Independent Strategic Review of the United Nations Mission in Somalia and before then as a member of the High-Level Independent Panel on Peace Operations. ?
Mr. Martin served as Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Support Mission in Libya and in various positions in other Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ field operations, including in Timor-Leste, Nepal, Eritrea, Rwanda and Haiti.
Mr. Martin holds a Master of Arts in history and economics from Cambridge University, United Kingdom, and studied development economics at Harvard University, United States of America.
