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VIENNA, 22 January (UNRWA) -- Peter Hansen, of Denmark, today assumed his post as Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA). He succeeds Ilter Turkmen, of Turkey, who retires after five years as the Agency's Commissioner-General.
As Commissioner-General of UNRWA, Mr. Hansen heads the largest United Nations agency in terms of staff. The 22,000 employees of UNRWA, almost entirely Palestinian, provide education, health, relief and social services to more than 3.2 million registered Palestine refugees living in Jordan, Lebanon, Syria, and the West Bank and the Gaza Strip.
Mr. Hansen, 54, comes to UNRWA from the United Nations Secretariat in New York, where he has served as Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator since March 1994. He was Executive Director of the Commission on Global Governance, Geneva (1992-1994). He has also served, since 1993, as the Special Representative of the Secretary- General to the Ad hoc Liaison Committee established to follow up the Washington Conference in support of the Middle East peace process. In addition, he has undertaken official missions to UNRWA's area of operations on a number of occasions, at the request of the Secretary-General.
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