Early career Kaag began her professional career in 1988 as an analyst for
Royal Dutch Shell in London, United Kingdom. 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.
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. She was then officially confirmed for the position. Kaag led a team of one hundred experts who were responsible for ensuring the elimination of Syria's
chemical weapon stockpiles before 30 June 2014.
United Nations Special Coordinator for Lebanon By the end of her term in September 2014, news media reported that Kaag was rumoured to succeed
Lakhdar Brahimi as UN Special Envoy to Syria. In early 2017, Kaag was considered by international media to be one of the candidates to succeed
Helen Clark as Administrator of the
United Nations Development Programme and head of the
United Nations Development Group; the post eventually went to
Achim Steiner.
2017–2024: Minister and D66 party leader in 2018 in 2018
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation Following the
2017 Dutch government formation, Kaag was asked for a ministerial post by D66 leader
Alexander Pechtold. She was installed as
Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation on 26 October 2017. Kaag was consequently the first female
Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands. She was replaced by
Stef Blok as foreign minister on 7 March 2018. From 2018 to 2022, Kaag served on the joint
World Bank–
WHO Global Preparedness Monitoring Board (GPMB), co-chaired by
Elhadj As Sy and
Gro Harlem Brundtland. In 2019, she joined the
World Economic Forum High-Level Group on Humanitarian Investing, co-chaired by
Børge Brende,
Kristalina Georgieva and
Peter Maurer.
2021 Dutch general election 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. During this period, she also profiled herself by giving speeches, often outside her own portfolio as a minister. 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.
Kajsa Ollongren and
Rob Jetten were also speculated to stand as candidates, but both refrained from doing so. The only opponent was the unknown member Ton Visser, which resulted in Kaag winning the election with 95.7% of the votes. She was elected as
party leader on 4 September 2020, making her the second female party leader of D66 after
Els Borst in 1998. 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. Initially, Kaag indicated that this was not at her request, but soon admitted that she was responsible for it. Following this report, the Dutch Media Authority () stated that there was no reason for further investigation, as editorial independence does not appear to have been violated. D66's campaign for the 2021 general election was successful. Under Kaag's leadership, D66 won 24 seats in the House of Representatives, thereby becoming the second-largest party after the VVD. Kaag joined the House of Representatives as the party's parliamentary leader on 31 March 2021. 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. 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.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Due to changes within the outgoing cabinet, Kaag was appointed Minister of Foreign Affairs on 25 May 2021. She combined this position with her position as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation until 10 August 2021. Thereafter, she was succeeded as Minister for Foreign Trade and Development Cooperation by another former diplomat,
Tom de Bruijn. On 16 September 2021, the
House of Representatives passed a motion of censure against her. A majority reproached her for the late
evacuation of Dutch citizens and local civilian personnel from Afghanistan amid the
2021 Taliban offensive and
Fall of Kabul. In response to the passing of the motion of censure, Kaag announced her intention to resign as minister.
King Willem-Alexander granted her resignation on 17 September, and she was succeeded by
Ben Knapen.
Minister of Finance ,
Victoria Nuland, in 2023 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. 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. 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.
2024–present: Return to diplomacy ,
Antony Blinken and Sigrid Kaag in
Kerem Shalom border crossing, May 2024. 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
Gaza war, which had been ongoing since the 2023
October 7 attacks and which had resulted in a siege of Gaza by Israel with significant civilian casualties and destruction as well as scarcity of resources. 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". 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. When
Tor Wennesland left the United Nations, Kaag took over his position as
Special Coordinator for the Middle East Peace Process and as Personal Representative of the Secretary-General to the
Palestine Liberation Organization and the
Palestinian Authority on 17 January 2025, days after Israel and Hamas agreed to a
three-phase ceasefire deal. She fulfills both roles in an acting capacity next to her role as humanitarian and reconstruction coordinator. ==Honours and awards==