Former Dutch minister Sigrid Kaag was appointed by the United Nations Security Council at the end of December and will take office this Monday, January 8th. This is not her first mission for the UN.
Published on: July 1, 2024 – 8:34 p.m
4 mins
Israeli media accuse him of hostility towards the Jewish state. 62-year-old Sigrid Kaag was married to a former Palestinian minister of Yasser Arafat in the 1990s. In an interview in 1996, she accused Benjamin Netanyahu, then already prime minister, of being a “racist”, “demagogue” and “enemy of peace”.
But the UN rejects the criticism. The organization announced on Tuesday, December 26, its appointment as coordinator for humanitarian assistance and reconstruction in Gaza, following a Security Council resolution on assistance to the Palestinian territory bombed and besieged by Israel. Sigrid Kaag will also be tasked with “establishing a United Nations mechanism to accelerate the delivery of humanitarian assistance to Gaza by states not involved in the conflict,” Secretary-General Antonio Guterres' spokesman said in a press release.
Multiple missions in the Middle East
A graduate of Oxford, the National School of Administration and the American University in Cairo, Sigrid Kaag began working for the United Nations in 1994. Leadership positions in various organizations such as the International Organization for Migration, Unicef and then Unrwa, the office that helps Palestinian refugees. Sigrid Kaag then multiplies the stakes in the region. In 2013, she was appointed head of the Chemical Weapons Interdiction Mission in Syria. In Damascus she was known as the Dutch “Iron Lady”. Two years later, she became UN special coordinator for Lebanon in the midst of the Syrian refugee crisis.
When she returned to the Netherlands in 2017, she experienced a meteoric political rise. She was elected leader of the social-liberal party D66 in 2020 and held ministerial positions. Sigrid Kaag has been responsible for finance as Deputy Prime Minister since 2022, before announcing her resignation to devote herself to her new role. “I think it is very important to have selected a senior official who has extensive experience at the United Nations, speaks Arabic and is used to dealing with problems in this region in order to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza “Frankly unacceptable,” says Richard Makepeace, member of the British NGO Medical Aid for Palestine, interviewed by RFI.
Necessary flexibility
The conflict between the Jewish state and the Palestinian movement, sparked after a bloody Hamas attack in Israel on October 7, has forced 1.9 million people to flee their homes in the Gaza Strip, 85% of them, according to the United Nations. corresponds to the population. The area is facing famine and most hospitals are out of service. International aid is arriving in insufficient quantities in the enclave, which has been under a total siege from Israel since October 9 after more than 16 years of Israeli blockade. “It is one thing to send more medical equipment, water, food, fuel and whatever else is needed to Gaza. But getting that help across the border to those who need it is another matter. This requires more flexibility in working with the Israeli Defense Forces to make the work of humanitarian workers less dangerous,” warns Richard Makepeace.
Also listen to Gaza, the humanitarian catastrophe
Mission impossible? The head of operations at the NGO Première Urgence Internationale, Olivier Routeau, is already cautious about Sigrid Kaag's ability to implement things quickly. “In my opinion, the idea behind this appointment is to bring about change and create a space in which humanitarian issues that are of great importance in the Gaza Strip today can be given greater consideration,” he says at the RFI microphone. However, I am still skeptical that one person will be able to find all the solutions given the blockages we face. »
Three months into this war, ground fighting between Israeli soldiers and Palestinian fighters, as well as devastating Israeli airstrikes, show no signs of easing. According to the Hamas Ministry of Health, Israeli retaliation in the Gaza Strip resulted in 20,915 deaths, mostly women, youth and children, and 54,918 injuries.
(And with AFP)