Sir Walter Kieran Prendergast (born 2 July 1942) is a British retired diplomat who was Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at 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 ...

. Prendergast was born in

Campbeltown Campbeltown (; or ) is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre Peninsula. Campbeltown became an important centre for Scotch whisky, and a busy fishing port. The 2018 populatio ...

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

, and received his education at St Patrick's College, Strathfield in

Sydney Sydney is the capital city of the States and territories of Australia, state of New South Wales and the List of cities in Australia by population, most populous city in Australia. Located on Australia's east coast, the metropolis surrounds Syd ...

, Australia.United Nations Press Release BIO/3175
1998-08-14 He later went to

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

and attended Salesian College in

Chertsey Chertsey is a town in the Borough of Runnymede, Surrey, England, southwest of central London. It grew up around Chertsey Abbey, founded in AD 666 by Earconwald, St Erkenwald, and gained a municipal charter, market charter from Henry I of Engla ...

and then

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (also known as The Hall and Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university" and was the las ...

. After graduation, Prendergast was a Turkish language student with the FCO in

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

1964–65, after which he joined the British Embassy in

Ankara Ankara is the capital city of Turkey and List of national capitals by area, the largest capital by area in the world. Located in the Central Anatolia Region, central part of Anatolia, the city has a population of 5,290,822 in its urban center ( ...

, Turkey for two years, until 1967, when he was posted to the

NATO The North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO ; , OTAN), also called the North Atlantic Alliance, is an intergovernmental organization, intergovernmental Transnationalism, transnational military alliance of 32 Member states of NATO, member s ...

Department at the

British Foreign Office The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is the ministry of foreign affairs and a ministerial department of the government of the United Kingdom. The office was created on 2 September 2020 through the merger of the Foreign an ...

. He later worked with the foreign service in

Nicosia Nicosia, also known as Lefkosia and Lefkoşa, is the capital and largest city of Cyprus. It is the southeasternmost of all EU member states' capital cities. Nicosia has been continuously inhabited for over 5,500 years and has been the capi ...

, Cyprus, and

The Hague The Hague ( ) is the capital city of the South Holland province of the Netherlands. With a population of over half a million, it is the third-largest city in the Netherlands. Situated on the west coast facing the North Sea, The Hague is the c ...

. In 1976, he returned to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

as Assistant Private Secretary to

Anthony Crosland Charles Anthony Raven Crosland (29 August 191819 February 1977) was a British Labour Party (UK), Labour Party politician and author. A social democrat on the right wing of the Labour Party, he was a prominent socialist intellectual. His influe ...

and

David Owen David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen, (born 2 July 1938) is a British politician and physician who served as Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs as a Labour Party MP under James Callaghan from 1977 to 1979, and later ...

, Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs. From 1979 to 1982, Prendergast worked in New York with

Anthony Parsons Sir Anthony Derrick Parsons (9 September 1922 – 12 August 1996) was a British diplomat, ambassador to Iran at the time of the Iranian Revolution and Permanent Representative of the United Kingdom to the United Nations, Permanent Representa ...

as part of the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations. In 1982, he was appointed Head of Chancery and Consul-General in

Tel Aviv Tel Aviv-Yafo ( or , ; ), sometimes rendered as Tel Aviv-Jaffa, and usually referred to as just Tel Aviv, is the most populous city in the Gush Dan metropolitan area of Israel. Located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline and with a popula ...

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 ...

and worked there for four years, later serving as High Commissioner to

Zimbabwe file:Zimbabwe, relief map.jpg, upright=1.22, Zimbabwe, relief map Zimbabwe, officially the Republic of Zimbabwe, is a landlocked country in Southeast Africa, between the Zambezi and Limpopo Rivers, bordered by South Africa to the south, Bots ...

and

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

, before returning to Ankara, this time as Ambassador to Turkey. In March 1997, United Nations Secretary General

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founder a ...

appointed Prendergast Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the

and Prendergast served in that position until July 2005. He helped call attention to

human rights violations Human rights are universally recognized moral principles or norms that establish standards of human behavior and are often protected by both national and international laws. These rights are considered inherent and inalienable, meaning t ...

and "

ethnic cleansing Ethnic cleansing is the systematic forced removal of ethnic, racial, or religious groups from a given area, with the intent of making the society ethnically homogeneous. Along with direct removal such as deportation or population transfer, it ...

" resulting from the

War in Darfur The War in Darfur, also nicknamed the Land Cruiser War, was a major armed conflict in the Darfur region of Sudan that began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army, Sudan Liberation Movement (SLM) and the Justice and Equalit ...

, and was deeply involved in Cyprus reunification negotiations in 2004, following the Cypriot Annan Plan

referendum A referendum, plebiscite, or ballot measure is a Direct democracy, direct vote by the Constituency, electorate (rather than their Representative democracy, representatives) on a proposal, law, or political issue. A referendum may be either bin ...

. He was determined that a solution could be found to

problems A problem is a difficulty which may be resolved by problem solving. Problem(s) or The Problem may also refer to: People * Problem (rapper), (born 1985) American rapper Books * ''Problems'' (Aristotle), an Aristotelian (or pseudo-Aristotelian) co ...

Somalia Somalia, officially the Federal Republic of Somalia, is the easternmost country in continental Africa. The country is located in the Horn of Africa and is bordered by Ethiopia to the west, Djibouti to the northwest, Kenya to the southwest, th ...

. When he retired in 2005, following pressure from the Bush administration for the removal of key UN Secretariat officials who had opposed the Iraq war and the many subsequent errors of policy, Kofi Annan thanked him for his "outstanding service" and "invaluable advice."Secretary-General Announces Retirement of Kieran Prendergast, Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs
United Nations Information Service, 19 May 2005 He was succeeded by Ibrahim Gambari. Since his retirement from the United Nations, Prendergast has conducted research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs and is a member of the Advisory Council of Independent Diplomat. He speaks both French and Turkish fluently, and is married with four children. Prendergast is chairman of the Anglo-Turkish Society, a trustee of the Beit Trust, and senior adviser at the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, as well as being counsellor at Melbourne-based Dragoman Global. He is also on the advisory board of Albany Associates, providing comprehensive communication strategies and solutions in challenging and transitional environments. Prendergast is the president of The British Association of Former United Nations Civil Servants.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Prendergast, Kieran British officials of the United Nations 1942 births Living people Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to Turkey People from Campbeltown High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Kenya High commissioners of the United Kingdom to Zimbabwe Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George