Secretary-General Nominates Filippo Grandi of Italy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
11 November 2015
SG/A/1605-REF/1217
Press Release
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, following consultations with the Chairs of the regional groups of Member States, today informed the General Assembly of his intention to appoint Filippo Grandi of Italy as the new United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Mr. Grandi was Commissioner-General of the United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) from 2010 to 2014 and it’s Deputy Commissioner-General from 2005 until 2010. He served as the Secretary-General’s Deputy Special Representative with the United Nations Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) and has a long-standing career with UNHCR, notably as Chief of Mission in Afghanistan and Chief of Staff in the High Commissioner’s Executive Office. His vast UNHCR field experience includes various positions in Sudan, Syria, Turkey and Iraq, having also led emergency operations in Kenya, Benin, Ghana, Liberia, the Great Lakes region of Central Africa, Democratic Republic of Congo and Yemen.

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High Commissioner welcomes nomination of successor
Press Releases, 12 November 2015
U.N. High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres on Thursday welcomed the announcement in New York of the nomination of Italian diplomat Filippo Grandi as his successor.

Mr. Grandi’s nomination was announced yesterday at United Nations headquarters by Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon. The General Assembly is expected to elect the new High Commissioner in the coming days.

“Mr. Grandi is a highly respected leader with a wealth of international and refugee experience,” Mr. Guterres said. “Given the scale and urgency of today’s refugee crisis, with 60 million people worldwide uprooted by conflict and persecution, someone of his abilities and profound knowledge of forced displacement will be of great benefit to UNHCR and the people we are mandated to protect and assist.”

Mr. Guterres ends over 10 years as High Commissioner on 31 December 2015. His term, which began in June 2005, spanned one of the most tumultuous decades in UNHCR’s history. The agency, which has more than 9,300 staff in some 123 countries, marks the 65th anniversary of its founding next month.