RAMIRO ARMANDO DE OLIVEIRA LOPES DA SILVA,
UNITED NATIONS HUMANITARIAN COORDINATOR IN IRAQ

Biographical Note

Ramiro Armando de Oliveira Lopes da Silva of Portugal was appointed to the role of United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq by the Secretary-General on 31 May 2002, and officially took office on 19 July 2002.

Mr. Lopes da Silva joined the United Nations system in 1985. Prior to his current appointment he was Director of the Transport and Logistics Division at the World Food Programme (WFP) headquartered in Rome. During his career, Mr. Lopes da Silva has served in several complex humanitarian emergencies. Among those roles, he was the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator in Angola (1996-1998). From 2001 to March 2002,  he  was appointed Special Envoy to the WFP Executive Director for the Afghan region. In that position he was responsible for the deployment and management of all WFP human and material resources deployed by the Programme in response to the post September 11 crisis in Afghanistan.

Mr. Lopes da Silva was born on 16 January 1949 and is married with three children.

The Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator in Iraq (UNOHCI) is an integral part of the Office of the Iraq Programme, with the Coordinator reporting to the Executive Director of the Programme Office, Mr. Benon Sevan. The Office of the Iraq Programme was established in October 1997 to consolidate the management of United Nations Secretariat activities related to Security Council resolution 986 (1995) and the Memorandum of Understanding between the United Nations and the Government of Iraq.