Special Envoy of the Secretary-General

A Special Envoy of the Secretary-General (SESG) is a senior United Nations official appointed by the United Nations Secretary-General to deal with a set of specific issues. Examples include the SESGs on HIV/AIDS in Africa, on LRA-affected areas, on indigenous people, to a specific country etc. George H. W. Bush, the 41st president of the United States, was chosen by the UN to serve as the Special Envoy to South Asia in December 2005. Others include Bill Clinton, a former president of the United States, was named the Special Envoy to Haiti in 2009, and, in July 2012, Gordon Brown, a former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, was named the special envoy on Global Education. For much of 2012 Kofi Annan, the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations, was Joint Special Envoy for the United Nations and the Arab League for Syria. There are many other people of different backgrounds who serve the Secretary-General. Current Special Envoys Special Envoys of the Secretary-General (SESGs) active include: Hans Grundberg (SWE), appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Yemen on 6 August 2021 Noeleen Heyzer (SGP), appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Myanmar on 25 October 2021 Geir Otto Pedersen (NOR), appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for Syria on 31 October 2018 Amandeep Singh Gill (IND), appointed Acting Special Envoy of the Secretary-General on Technology on March 10 June 2022 Hanna Tetteh (GHA), appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Horn of Africa on 22 February 2022 Xia Huang (CHN), appointed Special Envoy of the Secretary-General for the Great Lakes Region of Africa in April 2019 Jayathma Wickramanayake (LKA), appointed Secretary-General's Envoy on Youth. Personal Envoys Personal Envoys of the Secretary-General active include: Staffan de Mistura (ITA), appointed Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Western Sahara on 6 October 2021. De Mistura is tasked with "provid[ing] good offices on behalf of the Secretary-General… [and] work[ing] with all relevant interlocutors, including the parties, neighbouring countries and other stakeholders, guided by Security Council resolution 2548 (2020) and other relevant resolutions." Mirko Manzoni (CHE), appointed Personal Envoy of the Secretary-General for Mozambique on 8 July 2019.