United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on 6 December 2023 the appointment of Natalie Boucly of France as Deputy Commissioner-General (Programmes and Partnerships) of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). She will succeed Leni Stenseth of Norway to whom the Secretary-General expresses his appreciation for her service and commitment to the Organization.
Ms. Boucly is currently Acting Deputy Commissioner-General of UNRWA and brings to the position 25 years of international experience, in addition to substantive field experience in sensitive conflict and post-conflict settings with a particular focus on governance, crisis response and elections.
She joined UNRWA in 2022 as Director of Legal Affairs. Prior to that, she was the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in the Central African Republic (2019-2022). From 2014 to 2019, she served as the Resident Representative/Country Director of UNDP in the Republic of Tanzania and in Burundi. She has also worked in Sudan as the Head of the Resident Coordinator’s Office.
Ms. Boucly began her career in the United Nations system as a legal adviser, working in New York, Rome, Kenya, Kosovo and Haiti in various United Nations organizations, including the World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). Prior to joining the United Nations, she worked in the private and public sector in London.
She is a qualified barrister-at-law (England and Wales) and a law graduate of the London School of Economics and Political Science, England. Ms. Boucly is fluent in Bosnian, Croatian, English, French, Italian and Serbian. She is also proficient in German, Russian, Spanish, with knowledge of Arabic and Swahili.
