Oscar Fernandez-Taranco assumed his position as Assistant Secretary-General for Peacebuilding Support on 1 November 2014. Prior to this he has worked for 5 years as Assistant Secretary-General for Political Affairs. He was responsible for overseeing the Department’s divisions dealing with the Americas, Asia and Pacific, Europe, Middle East and West Asia, and the Decolonization Unit and Division for Palestinian Rights. Fernandez-Taranco has worked in the United Nations system for over 30 years, both at Headquarters and in the field. He has served in various capacities during that period, including Deputy Special Representative of the Administrator in the West Bank Gaza Programme of Assistance to the Palestinian People, Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Haiti, and Deputy Assistant Administrator in the Regional Bureau for Arab States. Mr. Fernandez-Taranco also served as Resident Coordinator in Tanzania where he led the UN reform initiative of “Delivering as One.” He is a graduate of Cornell University and MIT.
