Secretary-General Appoints Maurizio Giuliano of Italy Director of United Nations Information Centre in Rio de Janeiro
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Maurizio Giuliano of Italy as Director of the United Nations Information Centre in Rio de Janeiro, which provides service to Brazil. He assumed his duties today.
Prior to this appointment, Mr. Giuliano served as Chief Adviser for the Protection of Civilians in the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA), supporting the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and working with the Mission and the United Nations country team to improve the fragile protection landscape in that country. Between 2013 and 2016, he headed the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in the Democratic Republic of the Congo’s north-eastern city of Bunia, where he provided leadership in the humanitarian community’s efforts to jointly assess needs, plan responses, mobilize funding and deliver assistance, in addition to protecting those most in need.
Mr. Giuliano has more than 10 years of experience in public information, communications and advocacy, acquired within the United Nations system and externally. He was Chief of Communications for the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF) in Mexico between 2011 and 2013. From 2005 to 2011, he worked with the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in several countries, among them the Central African Republic, Chad, Democratic Republic of the Congo, South Sudan and Sudan. He also served as spokesperson for several senior United Nations humanitarian officials, and advocated for support to the world’s most vulnerable people, including during acute humanitarian emergencies.
In 2004 and 2005, Mr. Giuliano worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Afghanistan and with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) in Pakistan. He had his first experience with the United Nations in 2000 as a United Nations Volunteer with the United Nations Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET), where he was a Public Information Officer in the town of Baucau.
Between 1997 and 2004, he was a freelance writer and journalist based in Italy. He published two books on international relations and Latin American politics, as well as journalistic and academic articles in several countries.
Mr. Giuliano holds a master’s degree in Latin American studies from the University of Cambridge, and a Bachelor of Arts in Philosophy, Politics and Economics from the University of Oxford. He is fluent in English, French, Portuguese and Spanish.