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Career Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ Department of Safety and Security (Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS) makes Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ programmes possible for a better, more peaceful world. Our mission is simple: Enable United Nations system operations through trusted security leadership and solutions. This takes a workforce with a multitude of responsibilities: from identifying emerging security threats to advising colleagues on how to deliver life-saving programmes in dangerous locations; from supporting NGOs to training Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ staff on critical security measures. Access all Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS job openings, |
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Be Part of the Team
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Esther Kuisch Laroche
Director of the Division of Specialized Operational Support (DSOS), New York After gaining a Master¡¯s degree in Latin American Studies in the Netherlands, I knew I wanted a career with a strong international focus. Working in the private sector proved that wasn¡¯t the path for me, so I joined the United Nations around 20 years ago. I¡¯ve worked in a number of different Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ agencies, funds and programmes around the world, focusing on human rights, development and humanitarian aid, and became Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵESCO representative and head of sub-regional offices. Read more... |
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Tania Chalhoub
Field Security Coordination Officer, Syria People may be surprised to learn that I graduated with a diploma as a Dental Technician, though I never worked in that field. Instead, I became a Security at the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon, before joining the United Nations in 2002. After spending five years with the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ in Lebanon, I joined the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and was deployed to Liberia, Chad and then Haiti directly after the earthquake, where assisted set up a new office. I then realized that Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS gave me more scope for promotion and responsibility, so I joined in 2011 and was sent back to Chad. Read more... |
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Jessie Skola
Security Officer, Vienna After serving as a police officer in Vienna for ten years, I was seconded to Kosovo where I later applied to join Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS. On joining the Department in Vienna as a security officer, the opportunity immediately exposed me to new avenues such as dealing with diplomats and diverse cultures which was a dream come true for me. However, from a personal perspective, I was living separate lives. Read more... |
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Liliana Betancur
Security Coordination Officer, Juba After studying Law and International Business, I became a lawyer, also gaining some experience in human resources in a public entity. As a result, I had no security involvement when I joined Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS ¨C I discovered by chance that they were recruiting in my home city of Medell¨ªn, Colombia. In my first job with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS, I set up the Medell¨ªn field office from scratch ¨C I had one security coordination officer working with me and I had to take care of all the operations, coordination, meetings, training and documentation to make it happen. Read more... |
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Martin Laffey
Chief Security Adviser, Israel I was born in Australia but my early secondary schooling was in Liverpool, where my father was a university lecturer for a while. I think that¡¯s when I got my wanderlust! After returning to Australia and finishing school I joined the Royal Military College, Duntroon at the age of 18 as an officer cadet. I spent time as an army officer in Israel and Palestine during the first Gulf War, and later in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the first Taliban takeover. Read more... |
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Lisa Anderson Spencer
Chief Commercial Air Unit, New York To comply with our Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS mandate, our first goal was to develop a baseline methodology to determine relative safety amongst all commercial airlines operating globally, which could be used for official Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ staff travel. The end goal is to ensure that air operators ticketed by the Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ System meet our safety criteria and demonstrate their attention to safe operations. We check a variety of criteria against evidence-based sources to get the best picture of how the airline operates. Read more... |
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Hubertus Koebke
Security Coordination Officer, Pakistan I was an army officer before joining the United Nations. I left Germany in 1997 to work with a non-governmental organization known as Caritas Internationalis in Macedonia, Kosovo, Columbia, and Albania. After five years of humanitarian work out in the field, I successfully applied for a position with Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵHCR and subsequently to the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator and later transitioning to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS where I serve to date. Read more... |
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Jaki Azmi
Chief Security Officer, Addis Ababa After several years at a military boarding school in Bangladesh, I became a commissioned army officer, rising to the rank of Major. Working as a military peacekeeper in Liberia in 2007 gave me my first exposure to Africa ¨C and to the United Nations. The poverty and desperation in the post-conflict Liberia overwhelmed me; the civil war may have ended but the scars were still visible everywhere. I was impressed by the great job done by the United Nations. Read more... |
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Jeroen Vandervelde
Field Security Associate, Belgium After gaining my master¡¯s degree in social work, I left my native Belgium to volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I was involved in educating and socializing street children. This gave me a real fascination with humanitarian and development work, so after a few years as a social worker back in Belgium, I decided to join the military. That might appear an odd decision, but my background as a social worker gave me an excellent grounding to operate as an Intelligence Officer. Read more... |
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Somorita Ibrahim
Security Operations Assistant, Bangladesh My undergraduate and master¡¯s degrees were in Electronics and Telecommunications, so I didn¡¯t have the typical background to join Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS. My first role here was in the radio room, where my IT and technical knowledge proved essential in coordinating communications across Bangladesh. I¡¯m now using my IT knowledge in a different way: I¡¯m responsible for producing identity cards for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ personnel and their dependents across the country. Read more... |
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Tanya Mohan
Security Information Analyst, New York My undergraduate and master¡¯s degrees were in Electronics and Telecommunications, so I didn¡¯t have the typical background to join Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵDSS. My first role here was in the radio room, where my IT and technical knowledge proved essential in coordinating communications across Bangladesh. I¡¯m now using my IT knowledge in a different way: I¡¯m responsible for producing identity cards for Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ personnel and their dependents across the country. Read more... |