Secretary-General Appoints George Okoth-Obbo of Uganda Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Volker Türk of Austria Assistant High Commissioner for Protection

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced today the appointments of George Okoth-Obbo of Uganda as Assistant High Commissioner for Operations and Volker Türk of Austria as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

Mr. Okoth-Obbo will succeed Janet Lim of Singapore and Mr. Türk will succeed Erika Feller of Australia.  The Secretary-General is grateful to Ms. Lim and Ms. Feller for their dedicated service and commitment to the work of UNHCR.

Mr. Okoth-Obbo has served as UNHCR Director of the Regional Bureau for Africa since June 2009.  Prior to this, he was UNHCR Director of the Division of International Protection, and served as UNHCR Representative in Kenya from 2002 to 2006.  He graduated from Makerere University in Uganda with a Bachelor of Laws.  He also holds a Master of Laws from the University of Nairobi.

Mr. Türk has been Director of the UNHCR Division of International Protection since 2009.  He previously served as Director of Organizational Development and Management during the Organization’s structural reform process and as the UNHCR Representative in Malaysia from 2004 to 2008.  He holds a Master of Laws from the University of Linz in Austria and a doctorate in international law from the University of Vienna.