Jean Arnault is a French diplomat who currently serves as United Nations Secretary-General

António Guterres António Manuel de Oliveira Guterres ( , ; born 30 April 1949) is a Portuguese politician and diplomat. Since 2017, he has served as secretary-general of the United Nations, the ninth person to hold this title. A member of the Portuguese Socia ...

' Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues.

Early life and education

Arnault studied Philosophy, Linguistics and Political Science and graduated in Philosophy from University of Sorbonne-Paris I. He holds a postgraduate diploma in conference interpretation from the

Polytechnic of Central London , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

University of Westminster , mottoeng = The Lord is our Strength , type = Public , established = 1838: Royal Polytechnic Institution 1891: Polytechnic-Regent Street 1970: Polytechnic of Central London 1992: University of Westminster , endowment = £5.1 million ...

Career

Arnault worked as Senior Political Affairs Officer in Namibia, Afghanistan and Western Sahara from 1989 to 1991. Arnault was Observer and then Mediator in the

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

peace negotiations from 1992 to 1996, when the

Guatemalan Peace Accords Guatemalan may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to the country of Guatemala * A person from Guatemala, or of Guatemalan descent. For information about the Guatemalan people, see Demographics of Guatemala and Culture of Guatemala. For spec ...

were signed. He later served as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan for Guatemala and Head of the

United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala MINUGUA (United Nations Verification Mission in Guatemala) was a United Nations humanitarian mission in Guatemala that involved, at the most critical point in the peace process, a three-month peacekeeping mission. The original name of this opera ...

(MINUGUA) from 1997 to 2000. In 1997, Guatemalan human rights accused Arnault and the UN of having helped the rebels and the government cover up a political killing that was part of a crisis that nearly scuttled the peace plan; Arnault rejected the allegations. Arnault served as Representative of the Secretary General for Burundi and Head of the

United Nations Office in Burundi The United Nations Office in Burundi (BNUB) was established by the United Nations Security Council in December 2010 as a scaled-down operation to replace the United Nations Integrated Office in Burundi from 1 January 2011. BNUB, established by ...

(BNUB) from 2000 to 2001. In the following years, he was the

United Nations The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

Special Adviser to the Friends of Democratic Pakistan from 2008 to 2009; Special Representative of the Secretary General in Georgia and Head of the

United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia The United Nations Observer Mission in Georgia (UNOMIG) was established by United Nations Security Council Resolution 858 in August 1993 to verify compliance with a 27 July 1993 ceasefire agreement between the Republic of Georgia and forces in Abk ...

(UNOMIG) from 2006 to 2008, succeeding Heidi Tagliavini; Special Representative of the Secretary General in Afghanistan and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) from 2004 to 2006, where he was also Deputy in 2002-2003. From November 2014 to June 2015 Arnault was a member of the Independent High-Level Panel on Peace Operations appointed by UN Secretary-General

Ban Ki-Moon Ban Ki-moon (; ; born 13 June 1944) is a South Korean politician and diplomat who served as the eighth secretary-general of the United Nations between 2007 and 2016. Prior to his appointment as secretary-general, Ban was his country's Minister ...

and chaired by

José Ramos-Horta José Manuel Ramos-Horta (; born 26 December 1949) is an East Timorese politician currently serving as president of East Timor since May 2022. He previously served as president from 20 May 2007 to 20 May 2012. Previously he was Minister of Fore ...

to review and make recommendations on UN field operations in the areas of prevention, mediation, peacebuilding and peacekeeping. Arnault subsequently was the UN Secretary-General's Delegate to the Sub-Commission on End of Conflict issues in the Colombia Peace Talks, in which he served from August 2015 to April 2016. From May 2016 until September 2017, he was the Head of the UN Mission in

Colombia Colombia (, ; ), officially the Republic of Colombia, is a country in South America with insular regions in North America—near Nicaragua's Caribbean coast—as well as in the Pacific Ocean. The Colombian mainland is bordered by the Car ...

mandated to verify the implementation of the Agreement on the Definitive and Bilateral Ceasefire and Cessation of Hostilities and Laying down of Arms signed by the Government of Colombia under

President President most commonly refers to: *President (corporate title) *President (education), a leader of a college or university *President (government title) President may also refer to: Automobiles * Nissan President, a 1966–2010 Japanese ful ...

Juan Manuel Santos and the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC-EP) on 24 June 2016. At the end of December 2018 he had completed his assignment as Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Colombia and Head of the

UN Verification Mission in Colombia The United Nations (UN) is an intergovernmental organization whose stated purposes are to maintain international peace and international security, security, develop friendly relations among nations, achieve international cooperation, and be ...

, established by the Security Council in July 2017 to verify the reintegration of former combatants from the FARC-EP and the security guarantees for communities in the conflict areas. From November 2019 to December 2020, he served as the Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Bolivia. In March 2021, Secretary General

brought Arnault back to Afghanistan as Personal Envoy on Afghanistan and Regional Issues to support UNAMA, Special Representative of the Secretary General

Deborah Lyons Deborah Lyons is a Canadian diplomat, formerly Canada's ambassador to Israel. Before that she was Canada's ambassador to Afghanistan. She was the head of mission at the Embassy of Canada, Kabul. She was the only female ambassador in Kabul. On J ...

, and the negotiations and implementation of any agreements between the

Taliban The Taliban (; ps, طالبان, ṭālibān, lit=students or 'seekers'), which also refers to itself by its state (polity), state name, the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan, is a Deobandi Islamic fundamentalism, Islamic fundamentalist, m ...

and Afghanistan.

Other activities

In 2001, Arnault was a visiting fellow at the Centre for International Studies at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private research university in Princeton, New Jersey. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial Colleges, fourth-oldest ins ...

where he focused on lessons for mediators from peace processes in the 90s. See "Good Agreement, Bad Agreement? an Implementation Perspective, 2001". From 2011 to 2013 Arnault was Professor of Practice at the Paris School of International Affairs

Sciences Po Paris , motto_lang = fr , mottoeng = Roots of the Future , type = Public research university''Grande école'' , established = , founder = Émile Boutmy , accreditation ...

, where he taught International Mediation and the Settlement of

Civil Wars A civil war or intrastate war is a war between organized groups within the same state (or country). The aim of one side may be to take control of the country or a region, to achieve independence for a region, or to change government policies ...

. He is a non-resident Senior Fellow at the

Center on International Cooperation The Center on International Cooperation (CIC) is a foreign policy think tank based at New York University that works to enhance multilateral responses to global problems, including conflict, humanitarian crises, and recovery; international securi ...

(CIC) of

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

Jean Arnault

(CIC),

. and a member of the Council of the University for Peace headquartered in Costa Rica.

References

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Arnault, Jean 1951 births Living people University of Paris alumni Princeton University fellows French officials of the United Nations French diplomats Center on International Cooperation Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations French expatriates in the United Kingdom