ERBIL, Kurdistan Region - Former Iraqi President Barham Salih has assumed office as head of the UN refugee agency, marking the culmination of a decades-long career shaped by exile, opposition to dictatorship, and senior leadership roles in both the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad.
On December 18, former Iraqi president Barham Salih was elected to lead the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), becoming the first person from the Middle East to head the agency since the late 1970s. Approved by consensus by the UN General Assembly, Salih began his five-year term on Thursday.
“I am honoured to have been elected as the incoming United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees,” Salih said. “As a former refugee, I know first-hand how protection and opportunity can change the course of a life.”
Salih was born on September 12, 1960, in Sulaimani. As a teenager, he was arrested twice by Iraq’s former Baath regime over his links to the Kurdish national movement, spending 43 days in detention before completing high school. He later fled to the United Kingdom to avoid further persecution.
He earned a bachelor’s degree in civil engineering and architecture from Cardiff University in 1983 and later obtained a PhD in statistics and computer applications in engineering in the UK.