Kieran Prendergast
Encyclopedia
Sir Kieran Prendergast is a British diplomat and a former Under-Secretary-General
for Political Affairs
at the United Nations
.
Prendergast was born in Campbeltown
, Scotland
, and received his education at St Patrick's College, Strathfield
in Sydney
, Australia
. He later returned to England
attended Salesian College
in Chertsey
and then St. Edmund Hall, Oxford.
After graduation, Prendergast worked at the British Embassy in Ankara
, Turkey
for two years, until 1967, when he was posted to the NATO Department at the British Foreign Office. He later worked with the foreign service in Nicosia, Cyprus, and The Hague
. In 1976, he returned to London
to work as Assistant Private Secretary to Anthony Crosland
and David Owen
, Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
. From 1979 to 1982, Prendergast worked in New York
with Anthony Parsons as part of the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations. In 1982, he was appointed Head of Chancery
and Consul-General in Tel Aviv
, Israel
and worked there for four years, later serving as High Commissioner
to Zimbabwe
and Kenya
, before returning to Ankara, this time as Ambassador to Turkey.
In 1997, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
appointed Prendergast Under-Secretary-General
for Political Affairs
at the United Nations
and served in that position until 2005. He helped call attention to human rights violations and "ethnic cleansing
" resulting from the War in Darfur
, and was deeply involved in Cyprus reunification negotiations in 2004, following the Cypriot Annan Plan
referendum. He was determined that a solution could be found to problems
in Somalia
. When he retired in 2005, following pressure from the Bush administration for the removal of key UN Secretariat officials who had opposed the Iraq war and the many subsequent errors of policy, Kofi Annan thanked him for his "outstanding service" and "invaluable advice." He was succeeded by Ibrahim Gambari
.
Since his resignation from the United Nations, Prendergast has conducted research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
and is a member of the Advisory Council of Independent Diplomat
. He speaks both French
and Turkish
fluently, and is married with four children.
He is Chairman of the Anglo-Turkish Society, a Trustee of the Beit Trust, and Senior Adviser at the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, as well as being a non-executive Director and shareholder in Hakluyt, the London-based business intelligence firm.
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
An Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Secretary-General for a renewable term of four years....
for Political Affairs
United Nations Department of Political Affairs
The United Nations Department of Political Affairs is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations with responsibility for monitoring and assessing global political developments and advising and assisting the United Nations Secretary General and his envoys in the peaceful prevention and...
at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
.
Prendergast was born in Campbeltown
Campbeltown
Campbeltown is a town and former royal burgh in Argyll and Bute, Scotland. It lies by Campbeltown Loch on the Kintyre peninsula. Originally known as Kinlochkilkerran , it was renamed in the 17th century as Campbell's Town after Archibald Campbell was granted the site in 1667...
, Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, and received his education at St Patrick's College, Strathfield
St Patrick's College, Strathfield
St Patrick's College is an independent, Roman Catholic, day school for boys, located in Strathfield in the inner west of Sydney, New South Wales, Australia....
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. He later returned to England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
attended Salesian College
Salesian School (Chertsey)
Salesian School is a split-site Roman Catholic Comprehensive Secondary School in Chertsey, Surrey. The two sites were originally 2 single-sex education Roman Catholic private schools maintained by the Salesian Fathers and Sisters. The Salesian College at Highfield Road, founded in 1921, was for...
in Chertsey
Chertsey
Chertsey is a town in Surrey, England, on the River Thames and its tributary rivers such as the River Bourne. It can be accessed by road from junction 11 of the M25 London orbital motorway. It shares borders with Staines, Laleham, Shepperton, Addlestone, Woking, Thorpe and Egham...
and then St. Edmund Hall, Oxford.
After graduation, Prendergast worked at the British Embassy in Ankara
Ankara
Ankara is the capital of Turkey and the country's second largest city after Istanbul. The city has a mean elevation of , and as of 2010 the metropolitan area in the entire Ankara Province had a population of 4.4 million....
, Turkey
Turkey
Turkey , known officially as the Republic of Turkey , is a Eurasian country located in Western Asia and in East Thrace in Southeastern Europe...
for two years, until 1967, when he was posted to the NATO Department at the British Foreign Office. He later worked with the foreign service in Nicosia, Cyprus, and The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
. In 1976, he returned to London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to work as Assistant Private Secretary to Anthony Crosland
Anthony Crosland
Charles Anthony Raven Crosland , otherwise Tony Crosland or C.A.R. Crosland, was a British Labour Party politician and author. He served as Member of Parliament for South Gloucestershire and later for Great Grimsby...
and David Owen
David Owen
David Anthony Llewellyn Owen, Baron Owen CH PC FRCP is a British politician.Owen served as British Foreign Secretary from 1977 to 1979, the youngest person in over forty years to hold the post; he co-authored the failed Vance-Owen and Owen-Stoltenberg peace plans offered during the Bosnian War...
, Secretaries of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs
The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, commonly referred to as the Foreign Secretary, is a senior member of Her Majesty's Government heading the Foreign and Commonwealth Office and regarded as one of the Great Offices of State...
. From 1979 to 1982, Prendergast worked in New York
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
with Anthony Parsons as part of the United Kingdom Mission to the United Nations. In 1982, he was appointed Head of Chancery
Diplomatic mission
A diplomatic mission is a group of people from one state or an international inter-governmental organisation present in another state to represent the sending state/organisation in the receiving state...
and Consul-General in Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv
Tel Aviv , officially Tel Aviv-Yafo , is the second most populous city in Israel, with a population of 404,400 on a land area of . The city is located on the Israeli Mediterranean coastline in west-central Israel. It is the largest and most populous city in the metropolitan area of Gush Dan, with...
, Israel
Israel
The State of Israel is a parliamentary republic located in the Middle East, along the eastern shore of the Mediterranean Sea...
and worked there for four years, later serving as High Commissioner
High Commissioner (Commonwealth)
In the Commonwealth of Nations, a High Commissioner is the senior diplomat in charge of the diplomatic mission of one Commonwealth government to another.-History:...
to Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe
Zimbabwe is a landlocked country located in the southern part of the African continent, between the Zambezi and Limpopo rivers. It is bordered by South Africa to the south, Botswana to the southwest, Zambia and a tip of Namibia to the northwest and Mozambique to the east. Zimbabwe has three...
and Kenya
Kenya
Kenya , officially known as the Republic of Kenya, is a country in East Africa that lies on the equator, with the Indian Ocean to its south-east...
, before returning to Ankara, this time as Ambassador to Turkey.
In 1997, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan
Kofi Annan
Kofi Atta Annan is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the UN from 1 January 1997 to 31 December 2006...
appointed Prendergast Under-Secretary-General
Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations
An Under-Secretary-General of the United Nations is a senior official within the United Nations System, normally appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Secretary-General for a renewable term of four years....
for Political Affairs
United Nations Department of Political Affairs
The United Nations Department of Political Affairs is a department of the Secretariat of the United Nations with responsibility for monitoring and assessing global political developments and advising and assisting the United Nations Secretary General and his envoys in the peaceful prevention and...
at the United Nations
United Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
and served in that position until 2005. He helped call attention to human rights violations and "ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
" resulting from the War in Darfur
War in Darfur
The Darfur Conflict was a guerrilla conflict or civil war centered on the Darfur region of Sudan. It began in February 2003 when the Sudan Liberation Movement/Army and Justice and Equality Movement groups in Darfur took up arms, accusing the Sudanese government of oppressing non-Arab Sudanese in...
, and was deeply involved in Cyprus reunification negotiations in 2004, following the Cypriot Annan Plan
Annan Plan for Cyprus
The Annan Plan was a United Nations proposal to resolve the Cyprus dispute, reuniting the breakaway Northern Cyprus with the Republic of Cyprus. The proposal was to restructure Cyprus as the "United Cyprus Republic", which would be a federation of two states. It was revised a number of times before...
referendum. He was determined that a solution could be found to problems
Somali Civil War
The Somali Civil War is an ongoing civil war taking place in Somalia. The conflict, which began in 1991, has caused destabilisation throughout the country, with the current phase of the conflict seeing the Somali government losing substantial control of the state to rebel forces...
in Somalia
Somalia
Somalia , officially the Somali Republic and formerly known as the Somali Democratic Republic under Socialist rule, is a country located in the Horn of Africa. Since the outbreak of the Somali Civil War in 1991 there has been no central government control over most of the country's territory...
. When he retired in 2005, following pressure from the Bush administration for the removal of key UN Secretariat officials who had opposed the Iraq war and the many subsequent errors of policy, Kofi Annan thanked him for his "outstanding service" and "invaluable advice." He was succeeded by Ibrahim Gambari
Ibrahim Gambari
Ibrahim Agboola Gambari, CFR is a Nigerian scholar and diplomat. He was Minister for External Affairs between 1984 and 1985...
.
Since his resignation from the United Nations, Prendergast has conducted research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs
The Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs is a permanent research center located within the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard University. The center's current director is political scientist Graham T. Allison....
and is a member of the Advisory Council of Independent Diplomat
Independent Diplomat
Independent Diplomat is a non-profit organisation founded in 2004 by former British diplomat Carne Ross to give advice and assistance in diplomatic strategy and technique to governments and political groups - such as providing 'freelance' diplomats to unrecognised governments Independent Diplomat...
. He speaks both French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
and Turkish
Turkish language
Turkish is a language spoken as a native language by over 83 million people worldwide, making it the most commonly spoken of the Turkic languages. Its speakers are located predominantly in Turkey and Northern Cyprus with smaller groups in Iraq, Greece, Bulgaria, the Republic of Macedonia, Kosovo,...
fluently, and is married with four children.
He is Chairman of the Anglo-Turkish Society, a Trustee of the Beit Trust, and Senior Adviser at the Geneva-based Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue, as well as being a non-executive Director and shareholder in Hakluyt, the London-based business intelligence firm.