The United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq (UNAMI) was formed by the United Nations Security Council Resolution 1500 on 14 August 2003 and supports national development efforts on political, electoral, and humanitarian levels throughout Iraq.
The United Nations has been operating in Iraq since 1955 through a variety of programmes. Specialized agencies established their offices in Iraq in the early 1990s, and entities of the United Nations, such as UNAMI, have been operating in the country since the 2003 invasion of Iraq. Amid deteriorating conditions in 2007, the UN worked to progressively increase its presence in Iraq and continued to expand its operations throughout the country. The UN maintains its presence in Iraq through the Assistance Mission and the United Nations Country Team (UNCT), which regroups the 20 UN agencies currently operating in Iraq. Former Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General Sérgio Vieira de Mello was among 22 killed in a 2003 suicide attack carried out against the United Nations. The death of the envoy who was seen as a likely candidate for Secretary-General left a lasting impact on the United Nations.
Ján Kubiš is the current Special Representative of the Secretary-General and replaces Nikolay Mladenov. The current Deputy Special Representative for Political, Electoral & Constitutional Affairs is Gyorgy Busztin, who upon his appointment in 2011 replaced Jerzy Skuratowicz of Poland. Lise Grande succeeded Jacqueline Badcock in 2014 as Deputy Special Representative.