UNHCR People

UNHCR is nothing if without its people. And over the decades tens of thousands of people have helped alleviating the sorrows that the refugees and stateless people have to endure. These people include:

The High Commissioner

Filippo Grandi became the 11th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on 1 January 2016. He was elected by the UN General Assembly to serve a five-year term, until 31 December 2020.

High Commissioner Filippo Grandi addresses UNHCR staff in the headquarters atrium.

As High Commissioner, he heads one of the world’s largest humanitarian organizations. UNHCR has twice won the Nobel Peace Prize. Its over 9,700 staff members work in 126 countries providing protection and assistance to nearly 60 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced people and stateless persons. Some 88 per cent of UNHCR staff work in the field, often in difficult and dangerous duty stations. The organization’s needs-based budget for 2016 is US$6.5 billion.

Before being elected High Commissioner, Grandi had been engaged in international cooperation for over 30 years, focusing on refugee and humanitarian work. He served as Commissioner-General of the UN Agency for Palestine refugees, UNRWA, from 2010 to 2014, after having been the organization’s Deputy Commissioner-General since 2005. Prior to that, Grandi served as Deputy Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General in Afghanistan, following a long career first with NGOs and later with UNHCR in Africa, Asia, the Middle East and at the organization’s Geneva headquarters.

Grandi was born in Milan in 1957. He holds a degree in modern history from the State University in Milan, a BA in Philosophy from the Gregorian University in Rome, as well as an honorary doctorate from the University of Coventry.

Good-Will Ambassadors

UNHCR’s Goodwill Ambassadors are, along with High Commissioner Filippo Grandi, the public face of the UN refugee agency. They help promote UNHCR to every corner of the world through their celebrity, influence and hard work.

Italian fashion designer Giorgio Armani and American actress Angelina Jolie, who has visited more than 20 countries since being appointed a Goodwill Ambassador in 2001, have a truly global reach. Others such as Turkish singer Muazzez Ersoy, Spanish TV presenter Jesus Vazquez, Argentinian soap star Osvaldo Laport and Julien Clerc of France have a loyal national and regional following. Meanwhile Greek musician George Dalaras and Egyptian stage and screen star Adel Imam continues to straddle the international and national arenas, while acclaimed soprano Barbara Hendricks continues to bring enormous influence and experience as UNHCR’s only Lifetime Goodwill Ambassador.

Past UNHCR Goodwill Ambassadors include actors Richard Burton and James Mason, Italian screen legend Sophia Loren, Princess Märtha Louise of Norway, and musician Riccardo Muti.

They help in various ways to promote the work of UNHCR, raise funds and spread awareness about the world’s millions of displaced people. Some give free concerts, others use their influence to lobby governments, while many go into the field to shine a bright light on the suffering of refugees and internally displaced people and to let them know that people care. Without them, UNHCR would have a much harder job.

Special Envoy

After years of dedicated service to UNHCR and the cause of refugees, Angelina Jolie Pitt in April 2012 was appointed as Special Envoy of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Angelina Jolie Pitt, UNHCR’s Special Envoy, met with Syrian refugees in Lebanon.

UNHCR Supporters

Aside from its pool of high-profile Goodwill Ambassadors, UNHCR has a wide range of supporters and collaborators around the world, ranging from royalty and celebrities to students, academics and ordinary members of the public, including some 80,000 monthly donors who contributed more than US$12.6 million to UNHCR in 2008. The agency even works with a cartoon superhero.

The relationship between UNHCR and these supporters is less formal and much more flexible than the arrangement with Goodwill Ambassadors. Many of our offices around the world team up with local celebrities for prolonged campaigns or one-off events.

Best-selling author and former refugee Khaled Hosseini has formed a special link with our office in the United States, which has seen him join World Refugee Day events and travel to his native Afghanistan and to Chad to raise awareness about refugees and returnees.

Fellow American, actor Ben Affleck, directed a short film about uprooted Congolese civilians for UNHCR’s “Gimme Shelter” campaign. It was accompanied by the classic Rolling Stones track of the same name, thanks to permission from Sir Mick Jagger and ABCKO Records.

In the world of sports, Chicago Bulls basketball player Luol Deng has been supporting UNHCR’s ninemillion.org campaign, which raises funds to provide education and sports activities for millions of young refugees around the world. The lanky star fled his native South Sudan as a child and ended up as a refugee in England.

And in South Korea, UNHCR has joined forces with an immensely popular animated cartoon character – Robot Taekwon V – to spread awareness about the forcibly displaced.

Not all our supporters are international celebrities; but many of our collaborators are well known in particular regions or countries and help to raise awareness and funding in such areas. Some travel to refugee camps and tell of their experiences.

For the most part, our supporters are ordinary citizens: volunteers and students who help arrange activities on World Refugee Day and at other times of the year, teachers, academics who debate and write on refugee issues, prominent former refugees and many others.

“Until other solutions are found … it is essential that the international community help UNHCR to provide financial and food support.” – UNHCR Special Envoy, Angelina Jolie

Support UNHCR’s work to help the world’s most vulnerable people