Kristin Lund

Major General Kristin Lund (2009)

Kristin Lund (born May 16, 1958 ) is a major general in the Norwegian Armed Forces (Forsvaret) . In 2009 she became Norway's first woman to be major general. Between 2014 and 2016 she was the commander of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus (UNFICYP) as the first woman commander of a UN peacekeeping force . Since October 2017 she has been Head and Chief of Staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization (UNTSO).

Life

Kristin Lund joined the armed forces (Forsvaret) in 1979 and completed an officer training at the transport and logistics school (Befalsskolen for Hærens Transportkorps og Intendantur) and at the military academy ( Krigsskolen ) , which she graduated in 1983. In 1986, she served at the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon UNIFIL ( United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon ) because of and in the 16th from January 1991 Resolution 678 of the UN Security Council during the Second Gulf War conducted Operation Desert Storm to liberate Kuwait . From 1992 to 1993, again between 1994 and 1995 they made their service to the United Nations UNPROFOR in the protection force ( United Nations Protection Force ) , which on 21 February 1992 by the UN Security Council adopted international force in of Serb held Troops areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia .

Lund later attended the staff school of the armed forces FSTS (Forsvarets stabsskole) in 1996 and 2000 and was an officer in Afghanistan between 2003 and 2004 in the International Security Assistance Force ( ISAF ) of NATO . In 2004 she also graduated from the FHS (Forsvarets høgskole) defense college and in 2007 a postgraduate course in strategic studies at the US Army War College (USAWC) in Carlisle , from which she completed a master’s degree. After numerous assignments as an officer and staff officer, she was, among other things, commander of the Østerdalen site command (Østerdal garrison) .

In 2007, Lund was appointed Brigadier General Deputy Commander of the Army High Command and remained in this position until 2009. In October 2009, she was the first woman in Norway to be promoted to major general and was also the first woman to take over the post of Inspector General of the Heimwehr ( Generalinspektør for Heimevernet ) . She held this position until she was replaced by Major General Tor Rune Raabye in 2013 and subsequently acted as veteran inspector and head of the department for veterans in the armed forces between 2013 and 2014.

On August 13, 2014 Lund successor of Major General was Chao Liu from the People's Republic of China as the commanding officer of the United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus UNFICYP ( United Nations Peacekeeping Force in Cyprus ) and remained in this use until July 2016. She was the first woman as Commander of a UN peacekeeping force. She became a member of the Nordic Women's Mediation Network in 2015 and a consultant at the Norwegian Defense College in 2016. On October 6, 2017, UN Secretary-General António Guterres appointed her Head and Chief of Staff of the United Nations Organization for Monitoring the Armistice UNTSO ( United Nations Truce Supervision Organization ) in Israel and the Arab states . She took up this post on October 19, 2017, as the successor to Major General Arthur David Gawn from New Zealand .

honors and awards

Lund has been awarded numerous domestic and foreign medals for her longstanding services. Among other things, she received the Officer's Cross of the French Legion of Honor , the UN medal for participating in UNFICYP, UNIFIL and UNPROFOR, the NATO medal for missions in the former Yugoslavia and Afghanistan and the four-day cross for participating in the four-day Nijmegen March .

Web links

• Biography in the store norske leksikon
• Biography from May 12, 2014 on the homepage of the United Nations
• Biography from October 6, 2017 on the homepage of the United Nations