NEW PERMANENT OBSERVER OF PARLIAMENTARY ASSEMBLY OF MEDITERRANEAN PRESENTS LETTER OF NOMINATION TO DIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNOG

Gerhard J.W. Putman-Cramer, the new Permanent Observer of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Mediterranean to the United Nations Office at Geneva, today presented his letter of nomination to Kassym-Jomart Tokayev, the Director-General of the United Nations Office at Geneva.

Prior to his appointment to Geneva, Mr. Putman-Cramer had been serving as Director of the International Scientific Advisory Board of the Dubai International Humanitarian Aid and Development Conference and Exhibition, a Member of the Advisory Expert Committee on International Operations at the Swiss Red Cross, and a Senior Associate at the Global Humanitarian Forum since 2009.

From 1975 to 2009, Mr. Putman-Cramer worked for the United Nations in various capacities. He was Deputy Director and Chief of the Emergency Services Branch of the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva from 2001 to 2009, and was Chief of the Disaster Response Branch from 1996 to 2001. He worked with the United Nations Department of Humanitarian Affairs from 1992 to 1996, and from 1991 to 1992, he worked with the United Nations Inter-Agency Humanitarian Programme for Iraq, Kuwait and the Iraq/Turkey and Iraq/Iran border areas. He joined the United Nations Development Programme in 1975 and worked both at headquarters in New York and in the field with the Programme until 1991.

Mr. Putman-Cramer was born in Canberra, Australia on 7 July, 1949, and is a national of the Netherlands. He has a B.A. from Bedford College, the University of London (1969 to 1972) and various post graduate diplomas in economic development, international relations and political science. He is married with two daughters.


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CR13/020E