Dr. Volker Türk High Commissioner for Human Rights
By General Assembly Resolution 48/141, the Secretary-General of the United Nations appointed Dr. Volker Türk (Austria) the new High Commissioner for Human Rights to succeed Ms. Michelle Bachelet as the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights between 1 September 2018 and 31 August 2022.
Education
Türk attended the Khevenhüller Gymnasium in Linz and studied law at the University of Linz.[1] His dissertation at the University of Vienna was dedicated to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and its mandate and was published by Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1992.[2]
Career
In 1991 he became a junior professional officer at the UNO and had a temporary assignment in Kuwait financed by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
Then he held various posts at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) in various regions of the world, including Malaysia, Kosovo, Bosnia-Herzegovina, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
Later he became Director of International Legal Protection at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva.
In February 2015, he was appointed Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees, making him the highest UN official in Austria.
On April 18, 2019, he was appointed Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination in the UN Secretariat by UN Secretary-General António Guterres, succeeding Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond.
Awards
In May 2016 he was awarded the human rights prize of the University of Graz.[5]
Publications
Erika Feller, Volker Türk, Frances Nicholson (eds.): Refugee Protection in International Law. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge 2003, ISBN 0-521-53281-7.
