Barham Ahmed Salih Salih

Mr. Barham Salih became the 12th United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on 1 January 2026. He heads UNHCR, which operates in 128 countries providing protection and assistance to over 117 million refugees, returnees, internally displaced and stateless people. Mr. Salih’s career spans more than three decades of governmental service in Iraq and the Kurdistan Region, including as President of Iraq (2018–2022).  He holds a PhD in Statistics and Computer Applications in Engineering from the University of Liverpool. In addition to his native Kurdish and Arabic, he is fluent in English.