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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.

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Previous High Commissioners

There have been 10 High Commissioners. Read about them here.

2009 Dialogue on Protection Challenges

The next High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges will take place on 9-10 December 2009 in Geneva and focus on people of concern to UNHCR in urban settings.

Saving Refugees and the Displaced

High Commissioner António Guterres writes in Foreign Affairs magazine about new global displacement patterns expected in the 21st Century (external link).