Éric Falt
Eric Falt, a national of France, was appointed by UNESCO Director-General Irina Bokova as her new Assistant Director-General for the Sector for External Relations and Cooperation at the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) in Paris on 15 April 2010.
Falt will assume his new functions in September 2010 and bring to the position extensive knowledge and experience in the work of the United Nations and foreign affairs.
Prior this appointment, Falt has been serving as Director of the Outreach Division of the United Nations Department of Public Information since November 2007. In this capacity, he leads a total of 250 communications specialists, whose main function is to engage and educate people and their communities around the world in support of the United Nations ideals and activities. Concurrently, he has also been the Officer-in-Charge of the News and Media Division of the Department since April 2010.
Before joining the UN Headquarters in New York, Falt was Director of Communications for the United Nations Environment Programme UNEP in Nairobi, Kenya, from 2002 to 2007.
Prior to that, he held various high-ranking public information posts at different UN duty stations, many of which were in post-conflict countries. In Cambodia, he was spokesman for the United Nations Transitional Authority, a position in which he assisted the country’s transition to democracy. In Iraq, he was in charge of information in the United Nations Office of the Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. He was serving in Pakistan when the events of September 11 unfolded..
Before joining the United Nations, Falt had served in the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Chicago and in New York.
Mr Falt is married and has three sons.