The Red Cross announced on Friday that it has appointed Pierre Krahenbuhl, the former head of the UN agency for “Palestinian refugees” UNRWA, as its next director-general.
In a statement, the Red Cross said that Krahenbuhl “has dedicated more than 30 years to the humanitarian sector, including 25 years in prominent roles at the ICRC in delegations and at headquarters. He is recognized as a strategic and purpose-driven leader with deep organizational experience and dedication to the ICRC.”
Krahenbuhl is slated to commence as director-general of the Red Cross on April 1, 2024, when the current incumbent, Robert Mardini, finishes his four-year mandate.
Krahenbuhl was appointed commissioner-general of UNRWA in 2014. He resigned from that post in 2019, amid an internal probe into alleged mismanagement at the organization.
His resignation came several months after AFP revealed that senior UNRWA officials, including Krahenbuhl, were under investigation for "credible and corroborated" allegations of serious ethical abuses.
Krahenbuhl appointment by the Red Cross comes as the organization continues to be criticized over its failure to visit Israeli hostages being held by Hamas in Gaza.
Red Cross President Mirjana Spoljaric recently visited the Gaza Strip, where she was supposed to coordinate visits by Red Cross personnel to hostages who are being held by Hamas.
However, in a video she released after the visit, Spoljaric barely mentioned the hostages and mostly spoke about the plight of Gazan residents.
Only towards the end of the nearly two-minute video, did the Red Cross chief briefly mentioned the hostages abducted by Hamas during its October 7 attack on Israel.
(Israel National News' North American desk is keeping you updated until the start of Shabbat in New York. The time posted automatically on all Israel National News articles, however, is Israeli time.)