Zaida Catalán

On 12 March 2017, Catalán and another UN employee, American Michael Sharp, were kidnapped during a mission near the village Ngombe in the Kasai Province in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.[10] They were both found dead on 27 March.[11] The UN was reportedly horrified when a grisly video of the execution of the two UN experts surfaced in April, 2017.[12] Catalán was found in a shallow grave,[10] the body was beheaded, presumably as some kind of ritual from the murderers [13] but despite the arrest of two primary suspects of participate in the execution by Congolese authorities, the head was never found.[14][15] On 26 March 2018, one of the perpetrators, Vincent Manga, was captured by Kananga's military authorities and moved the investigation into a new direction in order to solve the incident.[16]

On 29 March, Swedish authorities launched an investigation into the murder of Zaida Catalán; the Minister for Education Gustav Fridolin and the Prime Minister Stefan Löfven both expressed their dismay and sadness over her death and offered their condolences to her family.[17] UN Secretary-General António Guterres also offered his condolences.[18]

Criticism of the U.N. has been expressed about the U.N.'s approach to the mission of their two experts.[19] They were sent into a remote and violence-torn area on motorbike taxis with only an interpreter at their side and without much training, safety equipment or even health insurance, an "astoundingly irresponsible approach by the United Nations to an obviously dangerous and hugely important task."[20]

At February 20, 2018, a ceremony took place for the inauguration of the Zaida Catalan's Room at the Chilean Embassy at Sweden.[21] In 2018, NOHA foundation (Network On Humanitarian Action) also released a Scholarship program in her memory.[22]