Our Representative

Hamish Young has worked for UNICEF since 1996. Most recently, he led UNICEF’s emergency response programme in Gaza, as the Senior Humanitarian Coordinator. Prior to that Hamish was the Chief of Field Operations and Humanitarian Coordination in Yemen, and before that he led the UNICEF Polio Eradication Team in Pakistan.

A lawyer by profession, Hamish has 30 years’ experience in leadership, strategic and emergency management, international human rights, humanitarian and environmental law, humanitarian relief and development work, in Africa, Asia, the Pacific and the Middle East.

Hamish has served in various positions in UNICEF Headquarters including as Deputy Director of Internal Audit and Investigation and the Chief of Climate, Resilience and Peacebuilding unit in Programme Division. Prior to Headquarters he was the UNICEF Representative to Papua New Guinea and the Deputy Representative in Tanzania. Hamish has also been the Eastern and Southern Africa Regional Advisor on Child Protection and before that he started his career with UNICEF as an advisor on humanitarian principles in Operation Lifeline Sudan.

Before joining the UN, Hamish worked for two years with the International Rescue Committee in Sudan and Rwanda, and prior to entering aid and development he worked for several years as a commercial litigation attorney with law firms in Sydney and London.

Hamish holds degrees in economics and law and is admitted as a Solicitor of the High Court of Australia and the High Court of England and Wales.