UN elects former Iraqi president Barham Salih to lead UNHCR

The United Nations General Assembly on Thursday approved former Iraqi President Barham Salih as the next head of the UN refugee agency, its first from the Middle East since the late 1970s.

He became Iraq’s president in 2018 and served until 2022.

Salih succeeds longtime agency veteran Filippo Grandi, whose second five-year term expires Dec. 31. Salih's five-year term starts Jan. 1.