Catalan diplomat Francesc Vendrell dies at 82

The Catalan diplomat Francesc Vendrell, who for decades held high UN positions and headed the special mission of this organization in Afghanistan, died this Sunday at the age of 82.

“I am deeply saddened by the death of Francesc Vendrell.

A personal friend and of Afghanistan, and a champion of human rights, serving both the UN and the EU”, the United Nations special rapporteur for Afghanistan, Richard Bennett, highlighted this Sunday on social networks.

The former secretary general of Diplocat and president of the European organization Horitzó Europa, Albert Royo, has highlighted that he was a "universal Catalan" who carried out various high-level functions at the UN and the EU.

Born in Barcelona in 1940, Vendrell graduated in Law from the University of Barcelona, ​​studied at King's College London and graduated in Modern History from the University of Cambridge.

In 1968 he joined the UN diplomatic corps, where he was the personal representative of the United Nations Secretary General in the peace processes in El Salvador and Nicaragua (1989-1991), Guatemala (1990-1992) and East Timor ( 1999).

He also participated in diplomatic missions in the Caucasus (1992) and Haiti (1993), and in 1999 he was appointed head of the office of assistance to the UN Secretary General for political affairs in Asia, the Pacific, Americas and Europe.

From 2000 to 2002 he headed the UN special mission to Afghanistan (UNSMA), and this last year he was named representative of the European Union, at which time he also received the Creu de Sant Jordi from the Generalitat.

In another message on social networks, the President of the Generalitat, Pere Aragonès, remembered him as a "tireless worker for peace and freedom" and pointed out that he is a Catalan benchmark throughout the world.

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