Filaret Motco
Filaret Motco, a national of Romania, was a Political Affairs Officer for the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA). Filaret served two stints with the Mission, the first in Kandahar in 2007/2008, rejoining the mission in May of 2009 as Political Affairs Officer. In between, he served in Kyrgyzstan with the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE). He worked for a short while with the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as a Protection Officer.
Before working at the UN, Filaret served in the Romanian Army and worked with the Romanian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and with the OSCE in Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan.
To many of his friends, Filaret was energetic and kind. He is described as a sharp thinker with a bubbly personality and a gift for bringing people together. He was passionate about using his skills, expertise and life experience to bring development and peace to communities. His favourite hobbies were cooking for friends and family and working on tapestries.
“I knew Filaret while we were both students in Moscow. Back then he was already a personality,” said a friend.
He studied Political Science in Moscow and law in Bucharest. He also attended the military academy in Romania. His high school teachers remember him as being among the best students of his generation, visiting the library daily.
The UN System in Romania opened a book of condolences for those lost in Mazar-e-Sharif and among those signing were the President, Traian Basescu, the Foreign Minister, Teodor Baconschi and the Minister of National Defense, Gapriel Oprea.
Filaret is survived by his mother, two brothers and two sisters. Filaret was the youngest in the family.
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The above tribute was first published on iSeek (the UN's Intranet) using information provided by field missions, the Departments of Peacekeeping and Field Support and OHRM, as well as comments shared by colleagues in conversations, email messages, and media accounts.