Following the recommendation of the Secretary-General, after consultation with Member States, the General Assembly confirmed Filippo Grandi of Italy as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for a further two-and-a-half-year term beginning 1 January 2021 and ending 30 June 2023. While the Secretary-General had intended to request the General Assembly to elect Mr. Grandi for a further term of five years, Mr. Grandi was agreeable, owing to personal reasons, to the shorter term. Mr. Grandi is currently serving an initial five-year term as UNHCR’s High Commissioner.
Before becoming Commissioner, Mr. Grandi was engaged in international cooperation for over 30 years, focusing on refugee and humanitarian work. He served as Commissioner-General of the United Nations Agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, from 2010 to 2014, having been the organization’s Deputy Commissioner-General since 2005. Prior to that, Mr. Grandi served as Deputy Special Representative of the United Nations Secretary-General in Afghanistan, following a long career first with NGOs and later with UNHCR in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and at the organization’s Geneva headquarters.
New York, 25 November 2020