Iraq’s former president Barham Salih has been chosen as the next High Commissioner for Refugees for the United Nations, a letter showed on Friday, breaking with a tradition of appointing leaders from major donor countries.
The letter, signed by U.N. Chief Antonio Guterres and dated December 11, says Salih has been appointed for a five-year term beginning January 1.
He replaces Italy’s Filippo Grandi, a veteran U.N. official, who has held the position since 2016. The appointment is provisional and needs to be approved by UNHCR’s Executive Committee, the document showed.
Salih, a British-educated engineer from Iraq’s Kurdish region, faces major challenges with global displacement at record highs and about double the levels it was when Grandi first began.
In parallel, funding has fallen this year as key donors like the United States have cut back and other Western donors have shifted funds to defence.
About a dozen candidates were competing for the role, including several politicians as well as an IKEA executive, an ER doctor and a TV personality. More than half of them were from Europe, in keeping with a tradition of the Geneva-based agency’s chief coming from top donor states.
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