Former Iraqi President Salih slated to lead UN refugee agency

Salih, who fled Saddam Hussein’s regime, campaigned for job on basis that he knows what it is like to be a refugee.

Former Iraqi President Barham Salih is on course to become the next head of the United Nations refugee agency after Secretary-General Antonio Guterres recommended him for the job.

A signed letter from Guterres, dated Thursday and addressed to Atsuyuki Oike, Japan’s top diplomat in Geneva and chair of UNHCR’s executive committee, that was seen by news agencies, confirmed the appointment pending formal approval.

All going according to plan, Salih, 65, will succeed Filippo Grandi, whose second five-year term as the UN High Commissioner for Refugees expires on December 31, becoming the first non-Western head of the Geneva-based agency in about half a century.

Alessandra Vellucci, chief spokesperson for the UN office, told reporters that the appointment would have to go through “a proper process” that includes consultations with the UNHCR committee, with a final decision taken by the UN General Assembly in New York.

“The process is ongoing. And once it’s finished, there will be an official announcement made by the United Nations,” said Vellucci.

Salih, who studied engineering in the United Kingdom to escape persecution under the rule of Saddam Hussein, served as Iraqi president from 2018 to 2022.

Originally from Iraq’s Kurdish region, Salih said during his campaign for the job that he believed deeply in the refugee agency’s mission “because I have lived it”.

“My vision is a UNHCR that places refugees at the centre, recognising that humanitarian aid is meant to be temporary,” he said.

The expected succession comes at the end of a devastating year, with UNHCR having slashed its 2026 budget by nearly a fifth to $8.5bn, with 5,000 job losses coming down the line, even as global displacement spikes amid conflicts in Gaza, Sudan and Ukraine.

Key donors like the US under President Donald Trump have cut contributions, and others have shifted funds to defence.

Salih aims to broaden funding sources, tap Islamic finance, and enlist private-sector partners through a proposed “Global CEO Humanitarian Council”.

He faces growing Western restrictions on asylum, amid anti-immigration sentiment, as well as frustration in poorer states sheltering refugees.

About a dozen candidates competed for the role, including politicians, an IKEA executive and a TV personality. More than half were European.

The last non-Western head of the agency was Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan of Iran, who served from 1966 to 1977.