Peregraf - Barham Salih, former President of Iraq, has been appointed as the new UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). The position is considered one of the most senior and influential roles in the United Nations system after the Secretary-General, and more than ten candidates were reportedly in contention.
Salih is set to take office next year, where he will oversee global efforts to safeguard the rights and welfare of refugees and internally displaced persons amid rising humanitarian crises worldwide.
His candidacy received early backing from senior Iraqi and Kurdish leaders. On October 30, 2025, Hoshyar Zebari, a member of the Kurdistan Democratic Party’s Political Bureau, announced on X that “Dr. Barham Ahmed Salih, with our full support, is the candidate of Iraq and the Kurdistan Region for the post of UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).” Zebari added that Salih “possesses all the necessary conditions and capabilities to manage this important humanitarian agency,” which plays a central role in addressing displacement crises across the globe.
Born in Sulaimaniyah in 1960, Salih spent decades in the leadership ranks of the Patriotic Union of Kurdistan (PUK) and has held several high-level positions in both the Kurdistan Region and Baghdad, though he currently has no formal role within the party. His career includes serving as Prime Minister of the Kurdistan Regional Government (Sulaimaniyah Administration) from 2001 to 2004, and later as Prime Minister in the KRG’s sixth cabinet.
Following the fall of the Ba’ath regime, Salih became Deputy Prime Minister of the Iraqi Interim Government in late 2004, subsequently serving as Minister of Planning in the Transitional Government. From 2006 to 2009, he held the post of Deputy Prime Minister in Nouri al-Maliki’s elected government.
On October 2, 2018, Salih was elected as the eighth President of Iraq. After completing his term, he sought re-election but was defeated by Dr. Latif Rashid, who secured parliamentary support to assume the presidency.