Nigel Fisher has lived and worked in more than a dozen countries in Asia, the Middle East, Africa and the Caribbean, as well as in Canada, where he was President and CEO of UNICEF Canada for almost five years. As Kathryn White, President & CEO of UNA-Canada notes, “Nigel has a long history of leadership in crisis and civil conflict situations with the United Nations and its partners, most recently in the Middle East, where he was Regional UN Humanitarian Coordinator for the Syria Crisis. He has also placed himself in harm’s way while assisting the most vulnerable.” 

A former Assistant Secretary-General of the United Nations, Mr. Fisher has negotiated with warlords, rebel groups, governments and international military coalitions for humanitarian access to civilians during armed conflict and for release of children captured by armed groups; and has advocated for adherence by combatants to international humanitarian and human rights standards and for the rule of law. He has also been active in the development of international normative frameworks to promote gender equality, access to health care, to address child labour and stigmatization of people with HIV/AIDS, as well as to develop conflict-related standards, including within the Convention on the Rights of the Child and the Anti-Personnel Mine Ban Convention.