Mr. Jenča brings to this position over 35 years of experience in diplomacy, mediation, leadership and oversight of UN peace operations, as well as close knowledge of the Colombian peace process and its regional and international context.  He has been serving as Assistant Secretary-General for Europe, Central Asia and the Americas in the United Nations Departments of Political and Peacebuilding Affairs and Peace Operations since 2019. 

Prior to 2019, as Assistant Secretary-General in the Department of Political Affairs, he covered the Americas, Europe and the Middle East, Asia and the Pacific, as well as the Decolonization Unit and the Division for Palestinian Rights.  From 2008 to 2015, Mr. Jenča served as the Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Regional Centre for Preventive Diplomacy for Central Asia in Ashgabat, Turkmenistan.  Previous posts in his diplomatic career include Director of the Office of the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Slovakia, Head of Mission to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe Centre in Tashkent, Uzbekistan, Ambassador and Representative of Slovakia to the Political and Security Committee of the European Union and Ambassador to Colombia, Mexico and Venezuela.
 
Mr. Jenča holds a Doctor of Law degree (Doctor Juris) from Comenius University in Bratislava.  He studied foreign trade at the University of Economics in Bratislava; diplomacy and international relations at the Moscow State Institute of International Relations (Master of Arts), and diplomacy at the Hoover Institution of Stanford University.  He is fluent in English, Russian and Spanish.

X account: @JencaMiroslav

Raúl Rosende has 30 years of experience in coordinating peace initiatives and monitoring peace agreements, facilitating negotiations between authorities and non-state armed actors, and verifying peace and humanitarian agreements. Throughout his career, he has worked for the United Nations and the Organisation of American States (OAS).

Since 2016, he has been part of the leadership of the United Nations Verification Mission in Colombia, where he has held the positions of Chief of Staff and Director of Verification. Since 2022, he has served as Deputy Special Representative and Deputy Head of Mission, appointed by the Secretary-General.

Mr. Rosende was the United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Northern Syria from 2014 to 2016; Director of the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Damascus, Syria, from 2013 to 2014, and in Yemen from 2010 to 2013. From 2008 to 2010, he was UNDP Peace Advisor in Palestine, and from 2006 to 2008 he was the Head of OCHA in Colombia, where he had previously been Advisor to the Resident Coordinator and Programme Coordinator.

In previous years, he worked as Political Advisor to the United Nations Mission in Afghanistan and Guatemala.

Before joining the United Nations, Mr. Rosende was Programme Coordinator for the OAS in Guatemala (1997-2000) and Nicaragua (1990-1996).

He holds a Master’s Degree in International Relations and a Master’s Degree in Peacebuilding.

Raúl Rosende is Uruguayan and has two daughters.