Mirjana Spoljaric Egger | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Spoljaric Egger (2024) | |
| President ofInternational Committee of the Red Cross | |
| Assumed office October 2022 | |
| Appointed by | the Assembly of theICRC |
| Vice President | Gilles Carbonnier |
| Preceded by | Peter Maurer |
| United Nations Assistant Secretary-General | |
| In office August 2018 – September 2022 | |
| Appointed by | António Guterres |
| Succeeded by | Ivana Živković |
| Personal details | |
| Born | 1972 (age 53–54) |
| Citizenship | Switzerland |
| Alma mater | University of Basel University of Geneva |
Mirjana Spoljaric Egger (Croatian:Špoljarić;[1] born 1972) is aSwiss-Croatiandiplomat. Since October 2022, she has served as the President of theInternational Committee of the Red Cross.[2]
Egger studied philosophy, economics and international law at theUniversity of Basel and theUniversity of Geneva. She finished her studies with a master's degree. She then worked as a research assistant at the Faculty of Law of the University of Basel.[3]On January 23, 2026, Egger was awarded with an honorary doctorate by Maastricht University during the university's 50th Dies Natalis celebration[4].
In 2000, she joined theFederal Department of Foreign Affairs, where she held various positions, including inBern andNew York. From 2004 to 2006, she taught onglobal governance in the Department of Sociology at theUniversity of Lucerne.[5]
She initially worked at the Swiss Embassy in Cairo and was desk officer for theEuropean Bank for Reconstruction and Development and Nuclear Safety in Central and Eastern Europe.
From 2010 to 2012, Egger was posted to Amman as a senior adviser at the office of the UN Commissioner General forthe United Nations Relief Agency for Palestinian Refugees and Refugees (UNRWA).[6][7]
From 2012, she was ambassador, head of the Division of United Nations and International Organizations.[8] She represented Switzerland in the negotiations on the UN reforms and the UN budget, in the Security Council, in the General Assembly, in theEconomic and Social Council of the United Nations, in the Commission for Peace Consolidation, in the Human Rights Council and in the UN Office for Drugs and Crime.[9]
From August 2018, Spoljaric served as the United Nations Assistant Secretary-General, Assistant Administrator of the UN Development Programme (UNDP), and Director of the Regional Bureau for Europe and the CIS. Those positions were succeeded byIvana Živković fromCroatia in September 2022.[10][11]
In November 2021, the Assembly of the International Committee of the Red Cross elected Spoljaric Egger as President of the Committee with effect from 1 October 2022 in place ofPeter Maurer. She is the first woman in this office.[2]
