UNHCR Senior Executive Team in Lebanon

@IFreijsen

Ivo Freijsen is the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) Representative in Lebanon. He previously served as the UNHCR Representative in the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Ivo brings with him over 30 years of experience in the humanitarian field at the country, regional and HQ levels, including with Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF), CARE International, the Directorate-General for the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Office (ECHO) and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), working across a wide range of situations, including Rwanda, Sudan, Eritrea, Iraq, Egypt and Syria.

Ivo Freijsen holds a Master’s degree in Arabic and Middle Eastern Studies, and a graduate diploma in International Relations. He speaks Dutch, Arabic, English and French.

Frederic Cussigh joined the UNHCR operation in Lebanon on the 1^st of January 2022 as Head of Sub-Office for Beirut and Mount-Lebanon.

He is an engineer in town planning and has more than 20 years experience with UNHCR, working across Africa, Asia, Middle East and Europe.

He served as Head of Office in Chad, South Sudan, DRC, Lebanon, and Iraq. He also worked as Registration Officer in Sudan, or IM/GIS Officer in Sierra Leone, Côte d’Ivoire, and Burundi.

Frederic also has extensive experience in emergency operations working to respond to refugees’ influx, IDPs crisis, natural disasters and repatriation and worked in Pakistan, Bangladesh, Côte d’Ivoire, Iraq, Liberia, Armenia, Syria, South Sudan, Lebanon, DRC to mention a few.

Prior to joining UNHCR, Frederic worked with NGOs in development (Cambodia) and mine action (Chad).

Maeve Murphy has worked in the humanitarian field for over 20 years. She first joined UNHCR in 2003.

Most recently she worked as Senior Operations Coordinator in the Regional Bureau for Southern Africa. Prior to that posting she was the Assistant Representative for Operations in Jordan following a three-year period as Head of Sub Office Zahle in Lebanon.  Other positions held included Senior Emergency Coordinator in Rakhine State in Myanmar and Senior Regional Community Services for UNHCR Asia operations, based in Bangkok. 

She has also held posts with UNHCR in Dadaab in Kenya, West Darfur in Sudan, Monrovia in Liberia, and Colombo in Sri Lanka.

Prior to UNHCR, Maeve worked for the Department of Peacekeeping Operations in East Timor following a period of three years working as an outreach adult community development trainer for the University of Ireland, Galway and holds Irish nationality.

Marguerite Nowak joined UNHCR Lebanon in January 2022 first as Senior Field Coordinator (Zahle) and in January 2024 as Head of Sub-Office Zahle.

She has worked for the United Nations since 2011 in South Sudan, Afghanistan, Iraq, and Syria. Prior to working with the UN, Marguerite worked on food security, poverty, and anti-hunger issues.

Marguerite has a background in field operations, emergency response, cluster coordination, and external relations. She holds a Masters in International Development & Economics from the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and a Masters in International Human Rights Law from Oxford University.

Galiya Gubaeva is now serving as the UNHCR Head of Field Office Tyre, Lebanon since June 2024.

Prior to working as head of office in Lebanon, Galiya served in Bangladesh as a Head of Field Office Bhasan Char, a remote island in the Bay of Bengal. 

Galiya has over 25 years’ experience with UNHCR in protection and emergency response roles, starting as national staff in Tajikistan, her international career has spanned Asia, Africa and the Middle East. Galiya graduated from the law faculty of Russian-Tajik Slavonic University in Dushanbe, Tajikistan.