The High Commissioner
UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres
António Guterres started as UN High Commissioner for Refugees on June 15, 2005, succeeding Ruud Lubbers of the Netherlands. A former Portuguese prime minister, Guterres was elected by the UN General Assembly to a five-year term and is the UN refugee agency's 10th High Commissioner.
As High Commissioner, he heads one of the world's principal humanitarian agencies. UNHCR has twice won the Nobel Peace Prize and its 6,600 staff members currently work in more than 110 countries providing protection and assistance to some 34 million refugees and others of concern. More than 80 percent of its staff works in the field, often in difficult and dangerous duty stations. The agency's total budget for 2009 is almost $2 billion.
Before joining UNHCR, Guterres spent more than 20 years in government and public service. He served as Portuguese prime minister from 1996 to 2002, during which he was strongly involved in the international effort to resolve the crisis in East Timor. As president of the European Council in early 2000, he led the adoption of the so-called Lisbon Agenda and co-chaired the first European Union-Africa summit. He also founded the Portuguese Refugee Council in 1991, and was part of the Council of State of Portugal from 1991 to 2002.
From 1981 to 1983, Guterres was a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, as well as chairman of the Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees. In addition, he has been active in Socialist International, acting as the organization's vice-president from 1992 to 1999 before taking over as its president until June 2005.
Guterres was born on April 30, 1949, in Lisbon and educated at the Instituto Superior Técnico, where he is an invited professor. He is married and has two children.
High Commissioner Guterres in the News
- UNHCR and Rwanda seek enduring solution for protracted refugee situation
- UNHCR chief urges the world not to forget the displaced in eastern Congo
- French Minister meets with High Commissioner regarding mixed migration
- UNHCR to expand confidence-building programme for Sahrawi refugees
- UNHCR Chief starts visit in North Africa
Speeches by António Guterres
- Statement by António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, to the Third Committee of the General Assembly, 64th Session, United Nations Headquarters, New York, Tuesday, 3 November 2009, 10 a.m.
- High Commissioner's Remarks at Nansen Refugee Award Ceremony, Washington, DC, Wednesday 28 October 2009
- The Secretary-General: Message to the African Union Special Summit of Heads of State and Government on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, Kampala, 22 October 2009, Delivered by Mr. António Guterres, UN High Commissioner for Refugees
- Statement of Mr. António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, African Union Special Summit of Heads of State and Government on Refugees, Returnees and Internally Displaced Persons in Africa, Kampala, Uganda, 22 October 2009
- Opening Statement by Mr. António Guterres, United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, at the 60th Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme (ExCom), Geneva, 28 September 2009