Meet Barham Salih, the 12th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

The  United Nations High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) has a new commissioner.

Barham Salih is the new and 12th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. He was elected by the UN General Assembly on 18 December 2025, for a term of five years, and assumed office on 1 January 2026.

“As a former refugee, I know first-hand how protection and opportunity can change the course of a life. My foremost responsibility will be to refugees and others forced to flee – upholding their rights and dignity and advancing durable solutions so that displacement remains a temporary situation, not a permanent fate.”

– Barham Salih, 12th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

Before being elected High Commissioner, Salih served as President of Iraq (2018–2022). He also served twice as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (2001–2004; 2009–2012) and as Deputy Prime Minister of Iraq (2004–2009), concurrently serving as Minister of Planning (2004–2006).

With a career spanning more than three decades of governmental service in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, Salih brings senior diplomatic, political and administrative leadership experience, including engagement with international and regional institutions, with human rights and humanitarian vision and experience, including as refugee, crisis negotiator and architect of national reforms.

He served as a Senior Fellow (non-resident) at the Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School, United States and as Leadership Fellow (non-resident) at the Middle East Institute in Washington, D.C, United States.

Founder and Chairman of the American University of Iraq, Sulaimani (AUIS), he holds a PhD in Statistics and Computer Applications in Engineering from the University of Liverpool, United Kingdom and a BSc in Civil Engineering from Cardiff University, United Kingdom.

Barham Salih was born in Sulaymaniyah, Iraq, in 1960. In addition to his native Kurdish and Arabic, he is fluent in English.