Kieran Prendergast

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Sir Kieran Prendergast (born July 1942) is a former British diplomat and Under-Secretary-General for Political Affairs at the United Nations and former non-executive director at corporate intelligence agency Hakluyt & Company.

Diplomatic career

As well as working for the UN, Prendergast has worked as consul-general in Tel Aviv, Israel, has served as High Commissioner to Zimbabwe and Kenya, and as Ambassador to Turkey. [1]

The UN

In 1997, United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan appointed Sir Kieran 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. When he resigned in 2005, Kofi Annan thanked him for his “outstanding service” and “invaluable advice.”[1]

Hakluyt

Prendergast was a director of Hakluyt's international advisory board The Holdingham Group Advisory Board from 1 March 2007 until 28 February 2013.

Parliament

When Norman Baker brought the House of Commons' attention to Hakluyt in 2010 by asking how many meetings had the government held with the agency, Prendergast's name was mentioned, alongside Niall Fitzgerald, Keith Craig, Sir Rod Eddington, Robert Webb QC and Mark Getty.[2]

Other roles

Since resigning from the UN, Prendergast has carried out research at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs

He is a member of the Advisory Council of Independent Diplomat, and a senior adviser to the Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue in Geneva.

Notes

  1. 1.0 1.1 Kieran Prendergast profile Albany Associates, undated, accessed 23 September 2013
  2. Parliament Hansard House of Commons Publications, accessed 23 September 2014