Jean-Marie Guéhenno, the Arnold A. Saltzman Professor of Professional Practice in International and Public Affairs and Director of the Center for International Conflict Resolution, has been appointed as the Deputy Joint Special Envoy of the United Nations and the League of Arab States on Syria.

Dr. Guéhenno will work under Joint Special Envoy Kofi Annan, and alongside Nasser al-Kidwa, “to seek an urgent end to all violence and human rights violations, and to initiate the effort to promote a peaceful solution to the Syrian crisis,” as a statement by the Kofi Annan Foundation explained the mission.

Dr. Guéhenno served at the UN as Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations from 2000 to 2008.

Read the United Nation’s press release here.