The UN Under-Secretary-General for Field Support, Ameerah Haq, the highest ranked Bangladeshi official at the UN, has submitted her resignation.
The resignation was submitted on Tuesday and would be effective from October, said Bangladesh Permanent Representative to the UN, AK Abdul Momen.
“I talked to her and she told me that she wanted to enjoy her retirement,” he said, adding that the resignation of Ameerah was a great loss for Bangladesh.
“No other Bangladeshi holds such a senior rank in the UN system,” Momen told the Dhaka Tribune over telephone yesterday.
Ameerah was supposed to retire two years ago but stayed on after requests made by the UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
“At the time of her extension, she requested the secretary-general to extend her service for one year but Ban Ki-moon requested her to continue for a further more year,” Momen said.
Ameerah Haq became the head of the Department of Field Support on June 11, 2012, and has overall 37 years of United Nations career service, including 19 years in the field and 18 at headquarters, and is a seasoned and skilled negotiator as well as consensus-builder.
Since 2009, Ameerah was the special representative of the secretary-general for Timor-Leste and head of the United Nations Integrated Mission in Timor-Leste (UNMIT).
She has previously held the positions of deputy special representative of the secretary-general as well as United Nations resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for Sudan and before that as deputy special representative of the secretary-general and United Nations resident coordinator and humanitarian coordinator for Afghanistan.
Ameerah holds master’s degrees in community organisation and planning, and in business administration from Columbia University and New York University respectively. She completed a Bachelor of Arts at Western College in Oxford, Ohio. Ameerah has two children.