United Nations

 NEW YORK, 2 June (UN Headquarters) -- Secretary-General Kofi Annan has appointed Marie Heuzé as the Director of the United Nations Information Service in Geneva.  She will take up her duties on 5 June.

 Ms. Heuzé, a national of France, has served as Chief of Communication of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) office in Geneva since 1992.  In that capacity, she has served as the spokesperson for UNICEF at several international conferences held in Europe, including the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna in 1993, the Second United Nations Conference on Human Settlements (Habitat II) in Istanbul in 1996 and the World Congress on Commercial Sexual Exploitation of Children in Stockholm in 1996.  In addition to leading a Geneva-based communication team, Ms. Heuzé‚ has guided a network of 37 UNICEF National Committees based in industrialized countries.  Prior to joining UNICEF, Ms. Heuzé‚ served as an information officer with the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) in Rome from 1982 to 1992.  Among other duties, she coordinated media coverage of international conferences, including the tenth World Forestry Congress in Paris in 1991 and FAO bi-annual regional conferences in African capitals.

 Before joining the United Nations system, Ms. Heuzé held a variety of public information posts in the French public sector.

 Born on 24 June 1947, Ms. Heuzé has a Diplôme d'études supérieures (DES) in Public Law and Political Science and a Maîtrise en Droit in Public Law from Lyon University.