Jean-Sélim Kanaan

, he was the son of an Egyptian UN diplomat, and he spoke seven languages.

Biography

Jean-Sélim Kanaan devoted his life to humanitarian relief operations from the age of 23 until his death. In 1996 he graduated from the Kennedy School of Government with a Master of Public Policy. Before that, he served in Mogadishu, Somalia, in 1992, and the following year, as a relief coordinator for Médecins du Monde in central Bosnia. In his first assignment with the UN from 1996 to 1998, he was employed by the UNOPS and served with the UN’s director of peacekeeping operations in Bosnia as the Assistant Programme Coordinator, and, from 1999 to 2000, in the UN Interim Administration Mission in Kosovo as an assistant to Bernard Kouchner, the UN's special representative to Kosovoref|secretariat. Following Kosovo, and until his mission in Iraq (2003), Kanaan worked with UNOSAT at the UN Headquarters in New York where he was managing policy questions promoting the use of GIS and other novel technologies for peacekeeping operationsref|unosat. In 2002 he published his book "Ma guerre à L’indifference", (English: My war against indifference), with a preface by Christine Ockrent. As an active individual he climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro and was an aviator.

Jean-Sélim Kanaan left behind his wife, Laura Dolci-Kanaan, and his three week old baby, Mattia-Sélim Kanaan.He was buried in a Roman Catholic cemetery in Cairo, Egypt: "Jean Sélim, martire della pace e dell'umanesimo".

Kanaan was awarded the French Legion of Honour posthumously for his work in 'helping the world's weak and oppressed'. ref|legion

ee also

*Attacks on humanitarian workers

References

# PDFlink| [http://www.fafo.no/nsp/rick/Secretariat%20News%20Tribute%20Edition.pdf Secretariat News] |1.14 MiB Canal hotel tribute edition, page 14-15
# PDFlink| [http://unosat.web.cern.ch/unosat/e-magazine/old/eUNOSAT_0310.pdf UNOSAT] |711 KiB tribute
# [http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=9923&Cr=iraq&Cr1= UN Press Release] Kanaan awarded French Legion of Honour

External links

*en icon [http://www.un.org/News/Press/docs/2004/sgsm9175.doc.htm UN Press Release] Kofi Annan pays tribute
*Kennedy School of Government
**en icon [http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/alum/inmemoriam/index.html Tribute]
**en icon [http://www.ksg.harvard.edu/alum/inspiration/kanaan_photos.html Photo album]
*Awarded the legion of honour
**fr icon [http://www.delegfrance-onu-geneve.org/kiosque/actualite/kanaan-27-02/alloc-amba.htm French mission to the UN]
*Book
**fr icon [http://portal.unesco.org/education/es/ev.php-URL_ID=22214&URL_DO=DO_PRINTPAGE&URL_SECTION=201.html Ma guerre à l'indifférence] [http://fr.news.yahoo.com/01122005/326/ma-guerre-l-indifference.html]
**it icon [http://www.internetbookshop.it/ser/serdsp.asp?shop=1452&isbn=8843804898 La mia guerra all'indifferenza]
*Film
**fr icon [http://www.cndp.fr/Tice/teledoc/mire/mire_onu.htm Génération ONU] Staring Kanaan
**fi icon [http://www.yle.fi/ulkolinja/arkisto/syksy05/YK_kenttatyontekijat.htm Yle.fi] review