Thirty-five years of humanitarian work
Philippe Lazzarini was born and raised in La Chaux-de-Fonds in 1964 in the Swiss Jura. He holds Swiss and Italian nationality. After a first appointment as an economist with the Canton of Bern, he joined the International Committee of the Red Cross in 1989 as a field delegate in southern Sudan, Jordan, Gaza and Beirut, then as Head of Delegation in Rwanda, Angola and Sarajevo, and finally as Deputy Head of Communications at headquarters in Geneva.
After 3 years in a private bank in Geneva, he joined the United Nations in Iraq in 2003 and then went on to head OCHA offices in Angola, Somalia and the occupied Palestinian territory before becoming Deputy Director of the Coordination and Response Division in New York. He then served as Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Somalia and, from 2015, as Deputy UN Special Coordinator, Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator for Lebanon.
In March 2020 the Secretary-General appointed him Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations and Commissioner-General of UNRWA. He served two terms, leaving office on 31 March 2026. His tenure was defined by the war in Gaza: nearly 400 UNRWA colleagues were killed, some 80 per cent of the agency's Gaza infrastructure was destroyed, and the agency faced donor suspensions, an independent review, and Israeli legislation banning its operations.
He is now writing, speaking and advising, and remains based in Geneva.
Lazzarini is married to British lawyer Antonia Mulvey, executive director of Legal Action Worldwide (LAW), and has four children.
ABOUT
NATIONALITY
Swiss and Italian
EDUCATION
MBA, HEC Lausanne; BA in Economics, University of Neuchâtel
LANGUAGES
English, French, Italian
Curriculum Vitae
2020 - 2026
Under-Secretary-General and Commissioner-General
UNRWA — United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East
Appointed by Secretary-General António Guterres in March 2020; served two terms, leaving office on 31 March 2026.
Led some 30,000 staff across Gaza, the West Bank including East Jerusalem, Jordan, Lebanon and Syria, serving 5.9 million registered Palestine refugees. First senior UN official to enter Gaza after the outbreak of the war in November 2023.
Deputy UN Special Coordinator for Lebanon
2015 - 2020
UNSCOL; also UN Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative
Coordinated the UN response to the Syrian refugee presence in Lebanon and to the country’s deepening economic crisis.
2013 - 2015
Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General
UN Assistance Mission in Somalia (UNSOM); also Resident and Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative
Coordinated the UN response through famine risk, insurgency and mass internal displacement.
2010 - 2013
Deputy Director, Coordination and Response Division
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), New York
2003 - 2010
Area Coordinator, then Head of Office
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA)
Joined the United Nations in 2003 as Area Coordinator in Mosul, Iraq. Subsequently Head of Office for Angola, for Somalia, and for the occupied Palestinian territory.
1999 - 2003
Head of Marketing
Worked on corporate social responsibility and the bank’s ethical investment agenda.
Union Bancaire Privée, Geneva
1989 - 1999
Delegate, Head of Delegation, Deputy Head of Communications
Field delegate in southern Sudan, Jordan, Gaza and Beirut; Head of Delegation in Rwanda, Angola and Sarajevo; Deputy Head of the Communications Department in Geneva.
International Committee of the Red Cross
1987- 1989
Economist
Canton of Bern, Switzerland
First professional appointment.