Martin Kobler (born 1953 in Stuttgart, Germany) is a German former career diplomat who served as German Ambassador to Egypt, Iraq and Pakistan. He served as Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General and Head of

United Nations Support Mission in Libya The United Nations Support Mission in Libya (UNSMIL) is a United Nations (UN) advanced mission in Libya, created in the aftermath of the Libyan Civil War. UNSMIL is a political mission, not a military mission. The main elements of its mandate def ...

from November 4th 2015 to June 22nd of 2017. Previously, he had served as Special Representative and Head of the UN Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of Congo (

MONUSCO The United Nations Organization Stabilization Mission in the Democratic Republic of the Congo or MONUSCO, an acronym based on its French name , is a United Nations peacekeeping force in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) which was estab ...

) from June 2013 to 2015. In this capacity, he headed more than 20,000 peacekeepers in the country.

Career

Kobler served as

United Nations Secretary-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-ge ...

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 ...

’s Special Representative for Iraq and Head of the

United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was formed on 14 August 2003 by United Nations Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 1500 at the request of the Iraqi government to support national development efforts. UNAMI's mandate includes ...

(UNAMI) from October 2011 to July 2013. Prior to this appointment, Kobler was Deputy Special Representative (Political) for

Afghanistan Afghanistan, officially the Islamic Emirate of Afghanistan,; prs, امارت اسلامی افغانستان is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central Asia and South Asia. Referred to as the Heart of Asia, it is bordere ...

from 2010 to 2011. The outcome of a major issue during his UNAMI activity, that is the protection of more than 3000 residents of

Camp Ashraf Camp Ashraf or Ashraf City was a camp in Iraq's Diyala Governorate, having the character of a small city with all basic infrastructure, and headquarters of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI/MEK). The population used to be around 3,400 in 2012, b ...

, home of Iranian dissidents members of the

People's Mujahedin of Iran The People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (PMOI), also known as Mojahedin-e-Khalq (MEK) or Mojahedin-e-Khalq Organization (MKO) ( fa, سازمان مجاهدين خلق ايران, sâzmân-e mojâhedīn-e khalq-e īrân), is an Iranian pol ...

(PMOI), a small city full of activity, against the deadly military attacks and attempts at displacement by the Iraqi government under

Nouri al-Maliki Nouri Kamil Muhammad-Hasan al-Maliki ( ar, نوري المالكي; born 20 June 1950), also known as Jawad al-Maliki (), is secretary-general of the Islamic Dawa Party and was the prime minister of Iraq from 2006 to 2014 and the vice president ...

, has been strongly criticised by international parliamentary groups. In fact,

Struan Stevenson Struan John Stirton Stevenson (born 4 April 1948) is a Scottish politician. He was the Conservative Member of the European Parliament (MEP) for Scotland from 1999 to 2014 and chair and Vice Chair of the Committee on Fisheries, in addition to whi ...

, who had been high-level diplomatic player of the European Parliament involved therein, accused him of cowardice in front of the Iraqi government and of being responsible for the forced displacement of the residents to the even less safe, prison-like

Camp Liberty Camp Liberty is a former United States military installation in Baghdad, Iraq. The installation was used from 2012 to September 2016 to house members of the People's Mujahedin of Iran (PMOI, also called MEK), who had been forcibly evicted from ...

. Moreover, Kobler's role has been described and criticized by Tahar Boumedra, former Chief of the Human Rights Office of UNAMI from 2009 to 2012, as following a subordinate appeasement policy in front of Nouri al-Maliki, while seriously offending the basic human rights via helping forcible eviction of protected people. This led to most senior UNAMI staff, including Kobler himself, quitting in protest. A veteran of the German Foreign Service, Kobler has held several high-ranking positions, including as Director-General for Culture and Communication in Germany’s

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * Unit ...

, and as Ambassador of Germany to Iraq, Egypt and Pakistan. His other posts include Chief of Cabinet to former

German Foreign Minister , insignia = Bundesadler Bundesorgane.svg , insigniasize = 80px , insigniacaption = , department = Federal Foreign Office , image = Annalena Baerbock (cropped, 2).jpg , alt = , incumbent = Annalena Baerbock , incumbentsince = 8 December ...

Joschka Fischer Joseph Martin "Joschka" Fischer (born 12 April 1948) is a German retired politician of the Alliance 90/The Greens. He served as the foreign minister and as the vice-chancellor of Germany in the cabinet of Gerhard Schröder from 1998 to 2005. Fis ...

from 2000 to 2003, Deputy Chief of Cabinet from 1998 to 2000, Deputy Head of the Foreign Ministry’s Balkan Task Force from 1997 to 1998. Prior to this, he was instrumental in implementing the German representation with the

Palestinian Authority The Palestinian National Authority (PA or PNA; ar, السلطة الوطنية الفلسطينية '), commonly known as the Palestinian Authority and officially the State of Palestine,

in Jericho. Additionally, he has acted as an Electoral Observer with the United Nations missions in

Haiti Haiti (; ht, Ayiti ; French: ), officially the Republic of Haiti (); ) and formerly known as Hayti, is a country located on the island of Hispaniola in the Greater Antilles archipelago of the Caribbean Sea, east of Cuba and Jamaica, and ...

Nicaragua Nicaragua (; ), officially the Republic of Nicaragua (), is the largest country in Central America, bordered by Honduras to the north, the Caribbean to the east, Costa Rica to the south, and the Pacific Ocean to the west. Managua is the cou ...

and

Cambodia Cambodia (; also Kampuchea ; km, កម្ពុជា, UNGEGN: ), officially the Kingdom of Cambodia, is a country located in the southern portion of the Indochinese Peninsula in Southeast Asia, spanning an area of , bordered by Thailand t ...

. Kobler has an advanced law degree and is fluent in English, French, German and Indonesian.

Other activities

Peace Research Institute Frankfurt The Peace Research Institute Frankfurt (acronym: PRIF, German: Leibniz-Institut Hessische Stiftung Friedens- und Konfliktforschung, short HSFK) is a research institute in Frankfurt am Main focused on violent international and internal conflicts ...

(HSFK), Member of the Board of Trustees

Personal life

Kobler is married to fellow diplomat

Brita Wagener Brita may refer to: People * Brita Appelgren (1912–1999), Swedish film actress * Brita Baldus (born 1965), German diver, who competed for East Germany until the unification in 1991 * Brita Biörn * Brita Borg (1926–2010), Swedish singer, actr ...

and has three children.

References

External links

United Nations Announcement

German Ambassador to Pakistan

{{DEFAULTSORT:Kobler, Martin Special Representatives of the Secretary-General of the United Nations Living people Ambassadors of Germany to Egypt Ambassadors of Germany to Iraq Ambassadors of Germany to Pakistan 1953 births German officials of the United Nations