This position – according to media reports or statements of the candidates themselves – apply, among others Marshal of the Polish Sejm Szymon Hołownia, a permanent representative of Turkey at the UN Ahmet YildizMer Paris Anne HidalgoBelgian politician Nicole de Moor, UN envoy to Burma Christine Schraner Burgener or related to the social democratic party German Niels Annen.
Continued article under video material
List of candidates for the UN position
61-year-old Yildiz worked with refugees or resettled people during his career, including in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Iraq, Libya or Syria. In the years 2008–2009 he was the head of the Iraqi Department at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Turkey, and in the years 2009–2011 he was a general consul in Mosul. In the years 2011–2014 he was an ambassador in Bosnia and Herzegovina. In the Turkish government he also served as a Syrian refugee advisor. From 2024 he has been the ambassador of his country at the UN.
Ahmet YildizAA / Abaca / PAP
Hidalgo – the first woman in the position of a meter of Paris – before he was the position of councilor of the French capital and its mayor, she worked at the Ministry of Labor of France and in the office of the International Labor Organization (MOP). 66-year-old Hidalgo from 2024-as “Le Monde” notes-she sought for a position, meeting, among others with the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres in New York.
Anne HidalgoChristophe Petit Tesson / PAP
41-year-old Belgian de Moor-a member of the Christian Democrats and Flemands party-in the years 2022-25 she was the secretary of asylum and migration in the government of Alexander de Croo. Celebrating this function, she contributed to the creation of a European pact on migration and asylum during the Belgian presidency in the European Union in 2024.
Nicole de MoorOlivier Hoslet / PAP
In the years 2018–2021, the Swiss diplomat Christine Schraneer Burgener was an UN envoy for Burma. The 62-year-old previously worked as an ambassador in Thailand and Germany. During the over 30 years of diplomatic career, Burgener also performed, among others The function of deputy director of the Directorate of International Law in the rank of ambassador and head of the Department of International Law, Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law at the Swiss Federal Department of Foreign Affairs in 2004–2009.
Christine Schraner BurgenerFranck Robichon / PAP
Annen – in turn a former Bundestag MP and an expert in the field of foreign policy and development, considered a close associate of the former German Chancellor Olaf Scholz. Since May 2025, he has been the secretary of state in the Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development. From December 2021 to May 2025, he was a parliamentary secretary of state in the same ministry. Earlier, from March 2018 to December 2021, he was the Minister of State in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the government of Chancellor Angela Merkel.
Niels AnnenBernd von Jutrczenka / PAP
Earlier, TOK FM reported that Hołownia is not the only Polish candidate for a position. Roman Mazur was also to submit his candidacy, who once competed in the elections to the European Parliament with the Polish List 2050.
The UN Secretary General will decide
The Office of the High United Nations Commissioner for Refugees was appointed in 1950 by the UN General Assembly. UNHCR is responsible for managing international activities to protect refugees and solve their problems around the world. The high commissioner strives to ensure that everyone's right to apply for asylum and find safe shelter in another country, with the possibility of a voluntary return home, integration or resettlement to a third country. He also has a ticket to help people with a stateless status.
The UN Secretary General of the UN, who, after the recruitment and verification of candidates, nominates one or one of them for approval by the UN General Assembly.
At the end of September, the Marshal of the Polish Sejm Szymon Hołownia informed the function of the High UN Commissioner for Refugees. The Polish leader 2050 published a letter on Facebook in which he reported that he submitted the application “in a public recruitment announced by the UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres, as the function of the High UN Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)”.
