John Ging

John Ging (born 1965) is an Irish national who was appointed as Director of the Operational Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in New York in February 2011.

Prior to that, he worked for 8 years as chief of staff in the mission of the Organization for Security Cooperation in Europe (OSCE) in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

According to colleagues who worked with him at the time, he took on difficult jobs like arranging the mass burial of 40,000 refugees who died when cholera swept through their camp.

In the period 1989–1994, Ging completed three tours of duty as a United Nations peacekeeper with UNIFIL in South Lebanon.

[7] During the war on Gaza in December 2008 – January 2009, Ging rose to international prominence as a principled advocate for the rights of civilians caught in conflict.

Speaking from Gaza, Ging repeatedly called for a halt to the military attacks, reminding the international community of their responsibilities to protect innocent civilians who had no safe shelter or refuge.