A diplomat by occupation, Kaag started working for the United Nations in 1994. She was Regional Director for the Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF in Amman from 2007 to May 2010, when she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Director of the Bureau of External Relations of the UNDP in New York City.[1] From October 2013 to September 2014, she served as Under Secretary-General and Special Coordinator of the OPCW-UN Joint Mission in Syria to oversee the elimination of the country's chemical weapons program. From January 2015 to October 2017, Kaag was the United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon (UNSCOL).[2]
Kaag entered Dutch politics in 2017 as minister for foreign trade and development cooperation in the third Rutte cabinet on behalf of D66. She ascended to party leadership ahead of the 2021 general election and also served for some months as minister of foreign affairs. When the fourth Rutte cabinet was formed in January 2022, Kaag became first deputy prime Minister and minister of finance. She decided not to run for re-election in 2023 and was succeeded by Rob Jetten as party leader. Kaag resigned as minister in January 2024 to return to the United Nations as senior humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator for Gaza.
Early life and education
Kaag was born on 2 November 1961 in Rijswijk as the second daughter of Frans Kaag and Agnes Kaag-Robben.[3][4] Her father, who was a classical pianist and music teacher, was originally from Wervershoof, while her mother, a primary school teacher, was from Arnhem.[4][1] The family settled in Zeist, where Kaag grew up.[4] One of her brothers died when Kaag was six.[5]
Kaag began her professional career in 1988 as an analyst for Royal Dutch Shell in London, United Kingdom.[9][10] In 1990, she started working for the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, where she was the deputy head of the department of United Nations political affairs.[citation needed]
1994–2017: Career at the United Nations
Kaag started working for the United Nations in 1994 and first served as Senior United Nations Adviser in the Office of the Deputy Special Representative of the Secretary-General in Khartoum, Sudan. From 1998 to 2004, she was Chief of Donor Relations for the International Organization for Migration and Senior Programme Manager with the External Relations Office of UNRWA in Jerusalem.[10] Working in the Middle East she was responsible for areas as the Palestinian territories, Lebanon, Jordan, and Syria.
From 2007 to May 2010, Kaag was Regional Director for Middle East and North Africa for UNICEF in Amman. In May 2010, she was appointed Assistant Secretary-General and Assistant Administrator and Director of the Bureau of External Relations and Advocacy of the United Nations Development Programme in New York.[9] In this capacity, she was the deputy to Helen Clark and oversaw UNDP's strategic external engagement, organization-wide communication and advocacy, as well as resource mobilization.[1][citation needed]
Soon after joining the cabinet, there was speculation about Kaag's candidacy for the D66 leadership, which had arisen after the resignation of Alexander Pechtold.[20] During this period, she also profiled herself by giving speeches,[21] often outside her own portfolio as a minister.[22]
On 21 June 2020, Kaag announced her candidacy for lijsttrekkerschap of the Democrats 66 for the 2021 general election, with the ambition of becoming the Netherlands' first female prime minister.[23]Kajsa Ollongren and Rob Jetten were also speculated to stand as candidates, but both refrained from doing so.[24][25] The only opponent was the unknown member Ton Visser, which resulted in Kaag winning the election with 95.7% of the votes.[26] She was elected as party leader on 4 September 2020, making her the second female party leader of D66 after Els Borst in 1998.[23] In this capacity, she led the party into the 2021 Dutch general election.[27][14]
In the run-up to the election, the VPRO documentary Sigrid Kaag: Van Beiroet tot Binnenhof was broadcast on 3 January 2021. Before this, Kaag had been followed for several years by documentary makers.[28] After the elections, GeenStijl published about the communication between the broadcasting company and D66 about the documentary, which they had obtained via a request for access to government information. This showed that D66 did have a lot of substantive requests, some of which were granted, although this was denied beforehand. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs also interfered, including the broadcast date of the documentary.[29] Initially, Kaag indicated that this was not at her request,[30] but soon admitted that she was responsible for it.[31] Following this report, the Dutch Media Authority (Commissariaat voor de Media) stated that there was no reason for further investigation, as editorial independence does not appear to have been violated.[32]
D66's campaign for the 2021 general election was successful.[33] Under Kaag's leadership, D66 won 24 seats in the House of Representatives, thereby becoming the second-largest party after the VVD.[34][35] Kaag joined the House of Representatives as the party's parliamentary leader on 31 March 2021.[36]
During a lecture in the Rode Hoed debating centre in September of the same year, she voiced fierce criticism of the political culture that had arisen partly under Mark Rutte's leadership.[37] Shortly afterwards, in April 2021, she joined forces with CDA leader Wopke Hoekstra in putting forward a motion of censure to voice their disapproval of VVD leader Rutte.[38]
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Due to changes within the outgoing cabinet, Kaag was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 25 May 2021.[39] She combined this position with her position as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation until 10 August 2021.[40] Thereafter, she was succeeded as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation by another former diplomat, Tom de Bruijn.[41]
Deputy Prime Minister of the Netherlands Sigrid Kaag at the State Department in Washington, D.C. on November 15, 2023 (cropped).jpg
After she negotiated in the 2021–2022 Dutch cabinet formation, Kaag returned to the fourth Rutte cabinet as minister of finance and first deputy prime minister. Days before, a candidate of the Jezus Leeft party had stood outside of Kaag's home with a burning torch, and security measures were subsequently raised.[5]Trouw profiled Kaag as a typical frugal Dutch finance minister who forced spending cuts following years of economic stimulus programs during the COVID-19 pandemic. She called constant compensation untenable in the 2021–2023 global energy crisis, acknowledging citizens would collectively become less wealthy. In her role as deputy prime minister, Kaag had more leeway within the governing coalition to act as a result of frequent international trips by Prime Minister Mark Rutte.[45]
On 12 July 2023, five days after the collapse of the fourth Rutte cabinet, Kaag announced in an interview in Trouw that she would not lead D66 into the 2023 general election, due to the impact of the "hate, intimidation and threats" her family was receiving.[46][47] According to the Nederlands Dagblad, these reached a high point when she became leader of D66. Its article referenced public perceptions of Kaag as an elitist politician as well as PVV leader Geert Wilders calling her a witch in 2021.[5] She became tearful in a May 2023 College Tour interview, when she was shown a video message from one of her daughters asking her to leave her job because of the threats.[5]
2024–present: Return to diplomacy
On 8 January 2024, Kaag became UN Senior Humanitarian and Reconstruction Coordinator for Gaza. Her appointment was the result of the adoption of a UN Security Council resolution to boost humanitarian aid in response to the Israel–Hamas war, which had been ongoing since a Hamas-led attack on Israel in October 2023 and which had resulted in a siege of Gaza by Israel with significant civilian casualties and destruction as well as scarcity of resources.[48] The UN tasked Kaag with "facilitat[ing], coordinat[ing], monitor[ing] and verify[ing] humanitarian relief consignments to Gaza" and with establishing a UN mechanism to accelerate aid deliveries "through states which are not party to the conflict".[49] Kaag left the fourth Rutte cabinet before the end of her term, and she was named an honorary member of D66 at a November 2024 party convention.[50]
Kaag is married and has four children.[9][1] Her husband, Anis al-Qaq, is a dentist and a Palestinian national from Jerusalem who served as a deputy minister under Yasser Arafat in the 1990s and as the Palestinian representative to Switzerland.[67][68] The couple married in Jerusalem, and they suffered several miscarriages.[5] Kaag is a noted polyglot and speaks six languages: Dutch, English, French, Spanish, German and Arabic.[13][69] She was raised Catholic and has mentioned that she practices the religion without following all of its rituals.[5]
^"Proces-verbaal verkiezingsuitslag Tweede Kamer 2021" [Report of the election results House of Representatives 2021] (PDF). Dutch Electoral Council (in Dutch). 29 March 2021. pp. 62–100, 188. Retrieved 21 December 2023.
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