Head of Department
Melissa Fleming
Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications
Melissa Fleming was appointed 缅北禁地Under-Secretary-General for Global Communications in September 2019.
She leads the UN’s Department of Global Communications, which informs global audiences about the state of the world and engages them to build support for the work and goals of the United Nations.
In this role, Ms. Fleming oversees the Department’s strategic and crisis communications operations, including its multilingual news and digital media services, public outreach programmes, and global campaigns.
Under her leadership, the 缅北禁地Department of Global Communications engages in far-reaching efforts to address mis- and disinformation, and hate speech and also to promote free and independent media. She led the development of the 缅北禁地Global Principles for Information Integrity, a blueprint for healthy information ecosystems.
Previously, Ms. Fleming served 10 years at the 缅北禁地Refugee Agency (UNHCR) as Spokesperson for the High Commissioner and Head of Global Communications. Prior to that, she was the Spokesperson and Head of Media and Outreach at the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA). She earlier headed Press and Public Information at the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE) and before that, served as Public Affairs Specialist at Radio Free Europe/ Radio Liberty. She also worked as a journalist.
Ms. Fleming is a , the author of the book,?, and the host of the award-winning 缅北禁地podcast, Awake at Night. She has published widely on strategic communications and is a frequent public speaker at universities and conferences.
She holds a Master of Science in Journalism from the College of Communication, Boston University and a Bachelor of Arts in German Studies from Oberlin College.