{"id":316391,"date":"2026-03-31T16:27:31","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T20:27:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/?post_type=document&#038;p=316391"},"modified":"2026-04-01T16:31:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-01T20:31:08","slug":"un-secretary-general-designates-christian-saunders-as-unrwa-acting-commissioner-general-from-1-july-2026-until-further-notice","status":"publish","type":"document","link":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-secretary-general-designates-christian-saunders-as-unrwa-acting-commissioner-general-from-1-july-2026-until-further-notice\/","title":{"rendered":"UN Secretary-General designates Christian Saunders as UNRWA Acting Commissioner-General from 1 July 2026 until further notice"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>31 March 2026<\/p>\n<p>In anticipation of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini\u2019s end of term on 30 June 2026, the United Nations Secretary-General has designated Christian Saunders, Special Coordinator on Improving the United Nations Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, as Officer-in-Charge of UNRWA from 1 April to 30 June 2026 and Acting Commissioner-General of UNRWA from 1 July 2026, until further notice.<\/p>\n<p>The Secretary-General extends his utmost gratitude to Mr. Lazzarini for his tireless commitment and outstanding dedication to UNRWA and the well-being of Palestine refugees, reiterating his profound support and appreciation to UNRWA staff for the crucial work performed in the areas of health, education and humanitarian assistance under extremely difficult conditions.<\/p>\n<p>The Secretary-General re-iterates that it is critical that Member States and other partners remain committed to UNRWA and the services it provides in a volatile region.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><em>Related content:\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/message-from-the-commissioner-general-to-unrwa-staff\/\">Farewell Message from the Commissioner-General to UNRWA staff &#8211; Question of Palestine<\/a><\/em><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>&nbsp; 31 March 2026 In anticipation of UNRWA Commissioner-General Philippe Lazzarini\u2019s end of term on 30 June 2026, the United Nations Secretary-General has designated Christian Saunders, Special Coordinator on Improving the United Nations Response to Sexual Exploitation and Abuse, as Officer-in-Charge of UNRWA from 1 April to 30 June 2026 and Acting Commissioner-General of UNRWA <a href=\"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/document\/un-secretary-general-designates-christian-saunders-as-unrwa-acting-commissioner-general-from-1-july-2026-until-further-notice\/\"> [&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":299,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"template":"","meta":{"footnotes":""},"country":[],"document-category":[2857],"document-source":[1817],"committee-meeting":[],"document-subject":[1945,1745,6891],"entity":[1729],"document-language":[6542],"class_list":["post-316391","document","type-document","status-publish","hentry","document-category-information-note","document-source-united-nations-relief-and-works-agency-for-palestine-refugees-in-the-near-east-unrwa","document-subject-assistance","document-subject-refugees-and-displaced-persons","document-subject-unrwa","entity-united-nations-system","document-language-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/316391","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/document"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/299"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/316391\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":316502,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document\/316391\/revisions\/316502"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=316391"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"country","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/country?post=316391"},{"taxonomy":"document-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-category?post=316391"},{"taxonomy":"document-source","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-source?post=316391"},{"taxonomy":"committee-meeting","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/committee-meeting?post=316391"},{"taxonomy":"document-subject","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-subject?post=316391"},{"taxonomy":"entity","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/entity?post=316391"},{"taxonomy":"document-language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.un.org\/unispal\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/document-language?post=316391"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}