NEW YORK, SEPTEMBER 27 – 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-years beginning on 1 July 2023 and ending on 31 December 2025. Mr. Grandi is currently serving the first two-and-a-half-year period of his second term as UNHCR’s High Commissioner.
Challenges grow but we at UNHCR remain committed to protecting people forced to flee and this makes me proud,” the High Commissioner said, thanking Member States and colleagues for the reappointment. Grandi was immediately congratulated by Italy: in a message on Twitter, the Permanent Representative to the United Nations in New York, Maurizio Massari, commented on the High Commissioner’s “very well-deserved extension of his mandate,” recalling his “unceasing commitment to the major rdisplacement crises in Afghanistan, Syria, the Horn of Africa and Ukraine.
Warmest congratulations 🇮🇹Filippo on the well-deserved extension for another 2 1/2 years of your mandate as UN High Commissioner for @Refugees. Grateful for your unceasing efforts on major displacement crises such as 🇦🇫, 🇵🇰, Horn of Africa & #Ukraine. pic.twitter.com/B7XBWUJ2YI
— Maurizio Massari (@MauMassari) September 27, 2022
“While the Secretary-General had intended to request the General Assembly to elect Mr. Grandi for a second term of five years, Mr. Grandi was agreeable, owing to personal reasons, to the shorter term. The Secretary-General proposed to the General Assembly that Mr. Grandi’s term be extended for a further two-and-a-half-years after Mr. Grandi conveyed to the Secretary-General that he is available to serve a full five-year term.
Before becoming High Commissioner for Refugees, 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. (@OnuItalia)
