Former Dutch finance and foreign minister Sigrid Kaag has been appointed as the United Nations envoy for the Middle East peace process, in addition to her current role as humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator.

Kaag, the UN said, “brings a wealth of experience in political, humanitarian and development affairs, as well as in diplomacy.” A fluent Arabic speaker, Kaag had a long career within the UN before returning to the Netherlands in 2017 to become minister for international trade and development co-operation.

In 2020, she took over the leadership of the Liberal democratic party D66, and under her leadership, the party was declared the “moral winner” of the 2021 general election, with 24 seats. Pictures of Kaag dancing on a table after the first election exit poll dominated the front pages of the Dutch papers.

However, Kaag came under sustained attack from the far right, who labelled her a “witch”, leading to demonstrators carrying torches turning up at her home and greeting her at meetings.

She left Dutch politics after the November 2023 election, citing the negative impact of her job on her family, and returned to the UN.