WORLD
UN secretary-general appoints Volker Turk as assistant secretary-general for strategic coordination in his executive office
Baku, April 19, AZERTAC
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced the appointment of Volker Turk of Austria as Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General. He will succeed Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond of Chile, who has been appointed Special Adviser of the Secretary-General on the Preparations for the Commemoration of the seventy-fifth Anniversary of the United Nations. The effective handover will take place in July.
Reporting to the Chef de Cabinet, Mr. Turk will ensure coherence in the strategic analysis provided to the Secretary-General by the political, peacekeeping, sustainable development, humanitarian, human rights and rule-of-law portfolios in the Executive Office. He will chair the Deputies Committee and serve as the Secretary to the Executives Committee and the Senior Management Group, respectively. He will also liaise with the Secretary to the Chief Executives Board to ensure coherence with the system.
Having served as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva since 2015, Mr. Turk brings with him extensive change-management experience and strategic vision. He has 30 years of expertise in the field of international protection of refugees and stateless persons, advocacy and humanitarian work more broadly. He has been leading UNHCR’s global protection activities and overseeing the development and implementation of protection and solutions policy with Governments and other actors, and in UNHCR’s operations around the world.