Special Envoy of the Secretary-General (SESG) is a title used by certain

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 ...

officials who are appointed by the

Secretary-General of the United Nations 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 ...

to deal with specific issues. Examples include the SESGs on HIV/AIDS in Africa, on LRA-affected areas, on indigenous people, to a specific country, ''

et cetera ''Et cetera'' (, ), abbreviated to ''etc.'', ''et cet.'', ''&c.'' or ''&c'', is a Latin expression that is used in English to mean "and all the rest". "&" is a ligature of "et." Translated literally from Latin, can mean , while can mean ; th ...

''.

George H. W. Bush George Herbert Walker BushBefore the outcome of the 2000 United States presidential election, he was usually referred to simply as "George Bush" but became more commonly known as "George H. W. Bush", "Bush Senior," "Bush 41," and even "Bush th ...

, the 41st

president of the United States The president of the United States (POTUS) is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president directs the Federal government of the United States#Executive branch, executive branch of the Federal government of t ...

, was chosen by the UN to serve as the Special Envoy for

South Asia South Asia is the southern Subregion#Asia, subregion of Asia that is defined in both geographical and Ethnicity, ethnic-Culture, cultural terms. South Asia, with a population of 2.04 billion, contains a quarter (25%) of the world's populatio ...

in December 2005. Others include

Bill Clinton William Jefferson Clinton (né Blythe III; born August 19, 1946) is an American politician and lawyer who was the 42nd president of the United States from 1993 to 2001. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, ...

(a former president of the United States), who was named the Special Envoy for

Haiti Haiti, officially the Republic of Haiti, is a country on the island of Hispaniola in the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and south of the Bahamas. It occupies the western three-eighths of the island, which it shares with the Dominican ...

in 2009, and

Gordon Brown James Gordon Brown (born 20 February 1951) is a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom and Leader of the Labour Party (UK), Leader of the Labour Party from 2007 to 2010. Previously, he was Chancellor of the Ex ...

(a former

Prime Minister of the United Kingdom The prime minister of the United Kingdom is the head of government of the United Kingdom. The prime minister Advice (constitutional law), advises the Monarchy of the United Kingdom, sovereign on the exercise of much of the Royal prerogative ...

), who was named the Special Envoy for Global Education in July 2012. For much of 2012,

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 ...

, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, was Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the

Arab League The Arab League (, ' ), officially the League of Arab States (, '), is a regional organization in the Arab world. The Arab League was formed in Cairo on 22 March 1945, initially with seven members: Kingdom of Egypt, Egypt, Kingdom of Iraq, ...

for

Syria Syria, officially the Syrian Arab Republic, is a country in West Asia located in the Eastern Mediterranean and the Levant. It borders the Mediterranean Sea to the west, Turkey to Syria–Turkey border, the north, Iraq to Iraq–Syria border, t ...

. There are many other people of different backgrounds who serve the Secretary-General.

Current Special Envoys

Special Envoys of the Secretary-General (SESGs) active include: * Miguel Ángel Moratinos Cayaubé (ESP), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General to combat Islamophobia, appointed 7 May 2025. *

Julie Bishop Julie Isabel Bishop (born 17 July 1956) is an Australian former politician who served as Minister for Foreign Affairs (Australia), Minister for Foreign Affairs from 2013 to 2018 and Leader of the Liberal Party of Australia#Federal deputy leader ...

(AUS), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar, appointed 6 April 2024. *

Retno Marsudi Retno Lestari Priansari Marsudi (born 27 November 1962) is an Indonesian diplomat who formerly served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs in the Cabinet of Joko Widodo between 2014 and 2024. She is the first female minister appointed to the pos ...

(INA), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Water, appointed 13 September 2024. * Hanna Tetteh (GHA), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa, appointed 22 February 2022. * Amandeep Singh Gill (IND), Acting Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Technology, appointed March 10 June 2022. * Hans Grundberg (SWE), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen, appointed 6 August 2021. * Xia Huang (CHN), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region of Africa, appointed April 2019. *

Geir Otto Pedersen Geir Otto Pedersen (born 28 September 1955) is a Norwegian diplomat, who is currently the United Nations Special Envoy for Syria. Career Born in Oslo, Pedersen is a cand.philol. by education and started working for the Norwegian Ministry of Fore ...

(NOR), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria, appointed 31 October 2018. *

(GBR), Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Global Education, appointed 13 July 2012. * Jayathma Wickramanayake (LKA), Envoy of the Secretary-General on Youth.

Personal Envoys

Personal Envoys of the Secretary-General active include: * María Angela Holguín Cuéllar (COL), Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General on Cyprus, appointed 2 March 2025. * Staffan de Mistura (ITA), Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara, appointed 6 October 2021. * (CHE), Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Mozambique, appointed 8 July 2019.

Former Special Envoys

The UN has appointed a number of Special Envoys, including: * * * * *

References

{{Reflist, 30em

External links

United Nations – Field Operations
United Nations posts United Nations Secretariat *

Current Special Envoys

Personal Envoys

Former Special Envoys

See also

References

External links