Paul J. Farrell

Paul Farrell (Canada) is a strategic security risk-management expert with over 36 years of military and security experience, 22 at the international level in the United Nations. Paul is presently the Principal Security Coordinator/Director of Global Security for UNICEF. He has served in multiple roles in UN Security, including as the Director of Policy and Compliance in the UN Department of Safety and Security (UNDSS), Principal Security Adviser for the UN in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Chief of the Peacekeeping Operations Support Section in UNDSS, Regional Security Adviser for UNICEF in West and Central Africa, and Security Coordinator for the Witness and Victim Support Section in the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Paul was the key architect of the “risk-based” approach to security in the UN and is the foremost expert in the UN on Security Risk Management. He has extensive crisis-management experience, including with hostage incident management. He led the review and update of the UN’s Hostage Incident Management training in 2019.

Paul holds a Bachelor of Education (BEd) from McGill University and Master of Science (MSc) in Security Risk Management from the University of Leicester.