Ban appoints Kyung-wha Kang of Republic of Korea as deputy UN humanitarian chief

Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has appointed Kyung-wha Kang of the Republic of Korea as the deputy head of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).

Ms. Kang will replace Catherine Bragg of Canada as the Assistant Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Deputy Emergency Relief Coordinator, according to the announcement of her appointment.

Ms. Kang has served as the Deputy UN High Commissioner for Human Rights since January 2007, during which time she has been responsible for the overall management of the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR). She also led the establishment of OHCHR’s support structure for the Universal Periodic Review and chaired the UN Development Group’s Human Rights Mainstreaming mechanism.

Prior to joining the UN, Ms. Kang worked as the Director-General of the International Organization at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade of the Republic of Korea.

She also served as Minister at the Republic of Korea’s Mission to the UN, from September 2001 to July 2005, during which she chaired the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW).

Ms. Kang will now work under the leadership of Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator Valerie Amos to bring various humanitarian actors together to ensure a coherent response to emergencies.