Mr. Türk is the current United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. He took up his official functions as High Commissioner on 17 October 2022.

He has devoted his long and distinguished career to advancing universal human rights, notably the international protection of some of the world's most vulnerable people - refugees and stateless persons.

Prior to this, Mr. Türk was the Under-Secretary-General for Policy in the Executive Office of the United Nations Secretary-General where he coordinated global policy work. He also ensured UN system-wide coordination in the follow-up to the Secretary-General’s “Call to Action for Human Rights” and his report, Our Common Agenda, which sets out a vision to tackle the world’s interconnected challenges on foundations of trust, solidarity and human rights. He previously served as Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination in the Executive Office of the Secretary-General (2019-2021).

As Assistant High Commissioner for Protection in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in Geneva (2015-2019), Mr. Türk played a key role in the development of the landmark Global Compact on Refugees.

Over the course of his career, he held a number of key positions including at UNHCR headquarters where he served as Director of the Division of International Protection (2009-2015); Director of Organizational Development and Management (2008-2009); and Chief of Section, Protection Policy and Legal Advice (2000-2004). Mr. Türk also served UNHCR around the world, including as Representative in Malaysia; Assistant Chief of Mission in Kosovo and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, respectively; Regional Protection Coordinator in the Democratic Republic of the Congo; and in Kuwait.

Mr. Türk holds a doctorate in international law from the University of Vienna and a Master of Laws degree from the University of Linz, Austria. He has published widely on international refugee law and international human rights law. He is fluent in English and French and has a working knowledge of Spanish.

Leah Zamore is the Associate Director, Humanitarian Policy at the NYU Center on International Cooperation. She also co-directs an Experts Group on Global Refugee Policy; is the co-author, with Alex Aleinikoff, of The Arc of Protection: Reforming the International Refugee Regime (Stanford University Press, 2019); serves as Vice Chair of the Board of Directors of Asylum Access, a global refugee rights NGO; and teaches on migration and human rights at The New School.

Prior to her current positions, Ms. Zamore taught international human rights law at Fundação Getúlio Vargas law school in São Paulo, Brazil; served as a special advisor to the federal Government in Brasilia on refugee and humanitarian issues; and, before that, worked as a policy adviser to the Deputy High Commissioner of the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR) in Geneva, Switzerland. In previous years, her human rights and humanitarian work has taken her to Ethiopia, northern Uganda, South Africa, France, Kosovo, and India.

Ms. Zamore has a Juris Doctorate from Yale Law School, a Master’s degree from Oxford University, and a Bachelor’s degree from Harvard University.