New York – UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres has appointed a special envoy to Myanmar, his spokesperson said on Thursday.
Christine Schraner Burgener would leave her role as the Swiss ambassador to Germany to take on the newly created UN post, UN spokesperson Stephane Dujarric told reporters.
The UN’s General Assembly had called on Guterres to appoint a special envoy to the south-east Asian nation in December.
Global concerns on the human rights situation in the country have been growing in the wake of a crackdown on Rohingya Muslims in Rakhine State that led to at least 700,000 people fleeing since August 2017.
Burgener has over 25 years of experience in diplomacy in the Swiss department of foreign affairs and as an ambassador to Thailand from 2009 and then Germany from 2015.
She led efforts to mediate after clashes broke out between the Thai government and protesters in 2010.
Born in Meiringen, Switzerland in 1963, Burgener holds a law degree from the University of Zurich.
