A Singaporean has been named to a new top-level United Nations mediation panel at a time when the Rohingya refugee crisis is on the radar of the world body.

Former top UN official Noeleen Heyzer was appointed to the UN High-Level Advisory Board on Mediation on Sept 13. The 18-member group comprises current and former world leaders as well as experts.

Dr Heyzer, 69, a sociologist, was formerly undersecretary- general of the UN, executive secretary of the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific and executive director of the UN Development Fund for Women. She is a distinguished fellow at the Singapore Management University and the Nanyang Technological University’s S. Rajaratnam School of International Studies (RSIS).

When asked yesterday if the board would tackle the Rohingya refugee crisis, Dr Heyzer, who was on her way to New York for the UN General Assembly meetings this week, said the issue was definitely on the UN’s agenda.

“What we are seeing is our inability to handle these massive complex conflicts, which have led to the forced displacement of populations and that, in turn, has affected the politics and cohesion of societies,” she said during the phone interview.