Geir Otto Pedersen (born 28 September 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat, who is currently the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is the Earth, global intergovernmental organization established by the signing of the Charter of the United Nations, UN Charter on 26 June 1945 with the stated purpose of maintaining international peace and internationa ...

Special Envoy Diplomatic rank is a system of professional and social rank used in the world of diplomacy and international relations. A diplomat's rank determines many ceremonial details, such as the order of precedence at official processions, table seating ...

for Syria.

Career

Born in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Pedersen is a cand.philol. by education and started working for the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian or ''Utenriksdepartementet''; or ''Utanriksdepartementet''; UD) is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June 7, 1905, the same day the Parliament of ...

in 1985. In 1993, Pedersen was a member of the Norwegian team to the Oslo negotiations, which led to the signing of the Declaration of Principles and mutual recognition between the

Palestine Liberation Organization The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ) is a Palestinian nationalism, Palestinian nationalist coalition that is internationally recognized as the official representative of the Palestinians, Palestinian people in both the occupied Pale ...

(PLO) and

Israel Israel, officially the State of Israel, is a country in West Asia. It Borders of Israel, shares borders with Lebanon to the north, Syria to the north-east, Jordan to the east, Egypt to the south-west, and the Mediterranean Sea to the west. Isr ...

. In the following years, from 1995 to 1998, Pedersen held several positions at the Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In 1998, he was posted abroad, serving as the Norwegian Representative to the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian Authority (PA), officially known as the Palestinian National Authority (PNA), is the Fatah-controlled government body that exercises partial civil control over the Palestinian enclaves in the Israeli occupation of the West Bank, ...

. Pedersen later worked for the United Nations in several roles, which included as the Personal Representative of the

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or UNSECGEN) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the United Nations System#Six principal organs, six principal organs of ...

for

Southern Lebanon Southern Lebanon () is the area of Lebanon comprising the South Governorate and the Nabatiye Governorate. The two entities were divided from the same province in the early 1990s. The Rashaya and Western Beqaa districts, the southernmost distr ...

from 2005 to 2007, and following as the Special Coordinator for Lebanon from 2007 to 2008. He also served the United Nations as Director of the

Asia Asia ( , ) is the largest continent in the world by both land area and population. It covers an area of more than 44 million square kilometres, about 30% of Earth's total land area and 8% of Earth's total surface area. The continent, which ...

and Pacific Division in the Department of Political Affairs. He returned to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as deputy under-secretary of state, then served as Norway's ambassador to the United Nations from 2012 to 2017 and to

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

from 2017 to 2018. In January 2019, he started a tenure as the United Nations Special Envoy to Syria. In October and November 2024 Abir Haj Ibrahim was assisting Pedersen in briefing the

United Nations Security Council The United Nations Security Council (UNSC) is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and is charged with ensuring international peace and security, recommending the admission of new UN members to the General Assembly, an ...

on the situation in Syria as a result of the war between Israel and Hamas. Israel had made 255 attacks directed towards Syria including a bomb in Damascus.

Personal life

Pedersen is married and has five children.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pedersen, Geir Otto 1955 births Living people Diplomats from Oslo Norwegian expatriates in Israel Norwegian expatriates in Lebanon Permanent representatives of Norway to the United Nations Ambassadors of Norway to China United Nations officials Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Special Envoys of the Secretary-General of the United Nations