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Career The United Nations Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS) makes UN programmes possible for a better, more peaceful world. Our mission is simple: Enable United Nations system operations through trusted security leadership and solutions. This takes a workforce with a multitude of responsibilities: from identifying emerging security threats to advising colleagues on how to deliver life-saving programmes in dangerous locations; from supporting NGOs to training UN staff on critical security measures. Access all UNDSS job openings, click here. |
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Be Part of the Team
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Esther Kuisch Laroche
Director of the Division of Specialized Operational Support (DSOS), New York After gaining a Master’s degree in Latin American Studies in the Netherlands, I knew I wanted a career with a strong international focus. Working in the private sector proved that wasn’t the path for me, so I joined the United Nations around 20 years ago. I’ve worked in a number of different UN agencies, funds and programmes around the world, focusing on human rights, development and humanitarian aid, and became UNESCO representative and head of sub-regional offices. Read more... |
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Tania Chalhoub
Field Security Coordination Officer, Syria People may be surprised to learn that I graduated with a diploma as a Dental Technician, though I never worked in that field. Instead, I became a Security at the Canadian Embassy in Lebanon, before joining the United Nations in 2002. After spending five years with the UN in Lebanon, I joined the Department of Peacekeeping Operations and was deployed to Liberia, Chad and then Haiti directly after the earthquake, where assisted set up a new office. I then realized that UNDSS gave me more scope for promotion and responsibility, so I joined in 2011 and was sent back to Chad. Read more... |
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Jessie Skola
Security Officer, Vienna After serving as a police officer in Vienna for ten years, I was seconded to Kosovo where I later applied to join UNDSS. On joining the Department in Vienna as a security officer, the opportunity immediately exposed me to new avenues such as dealing with diplomats and diverse cultures which was a dream come true for me. However, from a personal perspective, I was living separate lives. Read more... |
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Liliana Betancur
Security Coordination Officer, Juba After studying Law and International Business, I became a lawyer, also gaining some experience in human resources in a public entity. As a result, I had no security involvement when I joined UNDSS – I discovered by chance that they were recruiting in my home city of Medellín, Colombia. In my first job with UNDSS, I set up the Medellín field office from scratch – I had one security coordination officer working with me and I had to take care of all the operations, coordination, meetings, training and documentation to make it happen. Read more... |
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Martin Laffey
Chief Security Adviser, Israel I was born in Australia but my early secondary schooling was in Liverpool, where my father was a university lecturer for a while. I think that’s when I got my wanderlust! After returning to Australia and finishing school I joined the Royal Military College, Duntroon at the age of 18 as an officer cadet. I spent time as an army officer in Israel and Palestine during the first Gulf War, and later in Pakistan and Afghanistan during the first Taliban takeover. Read more... |
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Lisa Anderson Spencer
Chief Commercial Air Unit, New York To comply with our UNDSS mandate, our first goal was to develop a baseline methodology to determine relative safety amongst all commercial airlines operating globally, which could be used for official UN staff travel. The end goal is to ensure that air operators ticketed by the UN System meet our safety criteria and demonstrate their attention to safe operations. We check a variety of criteria against evidence-based sources to get the best picture of how the airline operates. Read more... |
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Hubertus Koebke
Security Coordination Officer, Pakistan I was an army officer before joining the United Nations. I left Germany in 1997 to work with a non-governmental organization known as Caritas Internationalis in Macedonia, Kosovo, Columbia, and Albania. After five years of humanitarian work out in the field, I successfully applied for a position with UNHCR and subsequently to the Office of the United Nations Security Coordinator and later transitioning to UNDSS where I serve to date. Read more... |
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Jaki Azmi
Chief Security Officer, Addis Ababa After several years at a military boarding school in Bangladesh, I became a commissioned army officer, rising to the rank of Major. Working as a military peacekeeper in Liberia in 2007 gave me my first exposure to Africa – and to the United Nations. The poverty and desperation in the post-conflict Liberia overwhelmed me; the civil war may have ended but the scars were still visible everywhere. I was impressed by the great job done by the United Nations. Read more... |
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Jeroen Vandervelde
Field Security Associate, Belgium After gaining my master’s degree in social work, I left my native Belgium to volunteer in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, where I was involved in educating and socializing street children. This gave me a real fascination with humanitarian and development work, so after a few years as a social worker back in Belgium, I decided to join the military. That might appear an odd decision, but my background as a social worker gave me an excellent grounding to operate as an Intelligence Officer. Read more... |
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Somorita Ibrahim
Security Operations Assistant, Bangladesh My undergraduate and master’s degrees were in Electronics and Telecommunications, so I didn’t have the typical background to join UNDSS. My first role here was in the radio room, where my IT and technical knowledge proved essential in coordinating communications across Bangladesh. I’m now using my IT knowledge in a different way: I’m responsible for producing identity cards for UN personnel and their dependents across the country. Read more... |
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Tanya Mohan
Security Information Analyst, New York My undergraduate and master’s degrees were in Electronics and Telecommunications, so I didn’t have the typical background to join UNDSS. My first role here was in the radio room, where my IT and technical knowledge proved essential in coordinating communications across Bangladesh. I’m now using my IT knowledge in a different way: I’m responsible for producing identity cards for UN personnel and their dependents across the country. Read more... |
