Salih, who fled Saddam Hussein’s regime, campaigned for job on foundation that he is aware of what it’s prefer to be a refugee.
Revealed On 12 Dec 2025
Former Iraqi President Barham Salih is on target to develop into the following head of the United Nations refugee agency after Secretary-Basic Antonio Guterres really helpful him for the job.
A signed letter from Guterres, dated Thursday and addressed to Atsuyuki Oike, Japan’s high diplomat in Geneva and chair of UNHCR’s government committee, that was seen by information companies, confirmed the appointment pending formal approval.
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All going in accordance with plan, Salih, 65, will succeed Filippo Grandi, whose second five-year time period because the UN Excessive Commissioner for Refugees expires on December 31, changing into the primary non-Western head of the Geneva-based company in about half a century.
Alessandra Vellucci, chief spokesperson for the UN workplace, instructed reporters that the appointment must undergo “a correct course of” that features consultations with the UNHCR committee, with a last resolution taken by the UN Basic Meeting in New York.
“The method is ongoing. And as soon as it’s completed, there will probably be an official announcement made by the United Nations,” mentioned Vellucci.
Salih, who studied engineering in the UK to flee persecution underneath the rule of Saddam Hussein, served as Iraqi president from 2018 to 2022.
Initially from Iraq’s Kurdish area, Salih mentioned throughout his marketing campaign for the job that he believed deeply within the refugee company’s mission “as a result of I’ve lived it”.
“My imaginative and prescient is a UNHCR that locations refugees on the centre, recognising that humanitarian assist is supposed to be non permanent,” he mentioned.
The anticipated succession comes on the finish of a devastating 12 months, with UNHCR having slashed its 2026 funds by practically a fifth to $8.5bn, with 5,000 job losses coming down the road, at the same time as world displacement spikes amid conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.
Key donors just like the US underneath President Donald Trump have lower contributions, and others have shifted funds to defence.
Salih goals to broaden funding sources, faucet Islamic finance, and enlist private-sector companions by means of a proposed “World CEO Humanitarian Council”.
He faces rising Western restrictions on asylum, amid anti-immigration sentiment, in addition to frustration in poorer states sheltering refugees.
A few dozen candidates competed for the function, together with politicians, an IKEA government and a TV character. Greater than half had been European.
The final non-Western head of the company was Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of Iran, who served from 1966 to 1977.
