Born 1939 in Germany. Former UN Assistant Secretary General and United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator for Iraq. BA and MA Degrees in History, Demography and Physical Anthropology.
Hans von Sponeck joined the UN Development Program in 1968, and worked in Ghana, Turkey, Botswana, Pakistan and India, before becoming Director of the European Office in Geneva. He has served thirty-two years with the organization, including at the UN HQ in New York. In his last post he succeeded Denis Halliday in charge of UN humanitarian operations in Iraq in October 1998, overseeing roughly 500 international staff and 1,000 Iraqi workers.
He was responsible for directing all UN operations in the country, managing the distribution of goods under the Oil-for-Food program and verifying Iraqi compliance with that program. Hans von Sponeck resigned in February 2000, in protest of the international policy toward Iraq, including sanctions.
von Sponeck has written numerous papers and articles in German and English in professional journals and magazines on subjects such as environment, social change and methodological/conceptual alternatives in development, sanctions and humanitarian exemptions. He is also the author of Human Development - Is There An Alternative?, New Delhi, November 1997.
In 2005 he published a comprehensive review of United Nations sanctions in Iraq. This book has been published in Arabic and German and is about to beBorn 1944 in Denmark.
Education

BA in French from Copenhagen University.

Mag. art. in cultural sociology from Copenhagen University, specialising in the theme of women in the Arab world.
Lic.pæd. from Denmark's Pedagogical University with the dissertation "Børn mellem to kulturer" (Children Between Two Cultures) about the socio-cultural, pedagogical and psychological aspects of immigrant education.
Four-year education as psychotherapist from Copenhagen University Institute for Psychotherapy.
Basic education in conflict-resolution from the Danish Centre for Conflict Resolution.
Employment and other experiences

Over the years she has worked at the Centre for Development Research, the Social Research Institute, Denmark's Statistical Institute, Copenhagen University, Denmark's Pedagogical University, and from 1984 till 2007, was program editor at the Danish Radio Broadcasting Corporation (DR).
Rahbek has lived and worked in the United States, France and Lebanon.
Selected publications
- Arabiske kvindekår, Akademisk forlag 1982 (The Living Conditions of Arab Women).
- God, Bedre, Dansk ? (sammen med Tove Skutnabb-Kangas), Børn og Unge 1983 (Good, Better, Danish?).
- Børn mellem to kulturer, Hans Reitzels forlag 1987 (Children Between Two Cultures).
- Henny Harald Hansen, Fremad 1992 (About Henny Harald Hansen).
- Når mennesket undrer sig. Vestlige tanker gennem 2500 år, red,Centrum 1995 (When Human Beings Wonder. Western Thoughts through 2500 Years).
- Tro og skæbne i Jerusalem (virkeligheden bag Selma Lagerlöfs roman Jerusalem) sammen med Mogens Bähncke (Faith and Fate in Jerusalem - The Reality behind selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem.
- En stat for enhver pris, Fremad 2000 (A State at Any Price - About Israel and Palestine).
- Democratisation in the Middle East, (red.). Århus Universitetsforlag 2005.
In addition, Rahbek has written a large number of articles in newspapers and magazines on themes such as integration, learning languages, the Arab world, book reviews and commentaries to events particularly in the Middle East.
Birgitte Rahbek is a frequent lecturer in a wide variety of audiences predominantly about the Arab world and migration/integration issues.
She joined TFF as Associate in 2001.
published in Spanish and English with the title, Another Kind of War - The Sanctions Regime of the UN in Iraq.
Hans von Sponeck joined TFF as Associate in September 2002 and became member of the Board in August 2006.