Secretary-General appoints Maria Jose Torres Macho of Spain as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Colombia

United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has appointed Maria Jose Torres Macho of Spain as the United Nations Resident Coordinator in Colombia, with the host Government’s approval. She takes up her post today, 3 June.

Ms. Torres Macho has more than 30 years of experience in law, sustainable development, humanitarian affairs, peacebuilding and development coordination, acquired at the United Nations and externally. She most recently served as United Nations Resident Coordinator in Chile, after holding a similar senior position in Malawi. She also held leadership roles at the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), including Head and Deputy Head of Office in Colombia and Palestine, respectively. She also worked as a Political Affairs Officer with the Department of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs (DPPA) in New York and Somalia and as a Protection Officer with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Colombia and Rwanda. She also worked with the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Guatemala.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Ms. Torres Macho was Executive Director of the Fundación Instituto de Promoción y Apoyo al Desarrollo (IPADE), a Spanish non-governmental organization specialising in local development, and worked at the European Parliament.

She holds a Master’s in International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Law from the University of Essex, United Kingdom; a Master’s in International Relations from the Free University of Brussels, Belgium; a Master’s in European Studies from Pontificia University, Spain; and a law degree from the University of Cantabria, Spain.