Finland nominated former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto as its candidate for UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), said the Permanent Mission of Finland to United Nations, Geneva on Wednesday.
“Finland proudly nominates former Foreign Minister Pekka Haavisto as a candidate for UN High Commissioner for Refugees. With decades of experience in diplomacy, crisis response, peacebuilding and human rights, he stands ready to lead with courage, cooperation & compassion,” the mission wrote in a post on its social media platform X.
The Office of the UNHCR is a United Nations agency mandated to aid and protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities, and stateless people, and to assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.
The present Commissioner, Filippo Grandi, will complete his second and final five-year term on 31 December this year.
His replacement will be chosen in a vote by the UN General Assembly.
Veteran politician of Vihreä liitto (Finnish Green League), Haavisto served as the Minister for Foreign Affairs of Finland from 2019 to 2023.
He also contested as a favourite candidate in the last Presidential election in February 2024 and was narrowly defeated to the current President Alexander Stubb.
The was also among the recipients of Sweden's Order of the Polar Star medals awarded by the Swedish government for contributions in conjunction with Sweden joining NATO.
- Pekka Haavisto
- Finland
- Candidate
- UNHCR
Source: www.dailyfinland.fi
