Who is Volker Turk? Austria’s diplomat appointed as UN High Commissioner for Human Rights

United Nations Secretory-General Antonio Guterres appointed Volker Turk as the High Commissioner for Human Rights on September 8, 2022, followed by the approval of the General Assembly. Volker Turk is 57 years old and spent most of his career within the UN system. He has worked closely with Secretary-General Antonio Guterres focusing particularly on refugees. Presently he was serving as assistant Secretary General for policy.

Volker will be succeeding Michelle Bachelet of Chile as High Commissioner. Currently, he is coordinating the global policy work as an Under-Secretary-General in the Executive Office of the United Nations. “Deeply honored to be appointed @UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. Turk wrote in his tweet.

Deeply honoured to be appointed @UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. I feel a deep sense of responsibility & will give it my all to advance the promises of Universal Declaration of Human Rights for everyone, everywhere. pic.twitter.com/bEmcl90bZJ

— Volker Türk (@volker_turk) September 8, 2022

Who is Volker Turk?

Volker Turk was born in 1965 in Austria. He is an Austrian lawyer and UN official. His work was published by Duncker and Humblot, Berlin 1992. He has also been awarded the human rights prize of the University of Graz in 2016.

Volker Turk Education

Volker Turk went to the Linz Khevenhuller Gymnasium and the University of Linz to study law. He wrote a dissertation dedicating to the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and its mandate at the University of Vienna.

Volker Turk Career

Volker Turk became a junior professional officer at the UNO in 1991. He also had a temporary assignment in Kuwait financed by the Austrian Ministry of Foreign Affairs. At that present time, Volker held several posts at the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees worldwide.

Later he came out to be the Director of International Legal Protection at UNHCR headquarters in Geneva. He also became the highest UN official in Australia in February 2015, as Deputy UN High Commissioner for Refugees.

Moreover, he was appointed as Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination in the UN Secretariat on April 18, 2019, succeeding Fabrizio Hochschild Drummond.  He has also played an important role in the development of the landmark Global Compact on Refugees, as an Assistant High Commissioner.

Volker Turk has devoted his career to advancing universal human rights. He had worked enormously for the protection of some of the world’s most vulnerable people.

What is UNHCR?

Human rights are the rights we possess as human beings. They are not granted by any state, instead, these are inherent to us regardless of sex, color, nationality, religion, etc. The UDHR adopted by UN General Assembly in 1948 was the first legal document to set out the fundamental human rights to be globally protected.

The office of UNHCR was established in 1950 to help several Europeans who lost their homes in the Second World War. It is the foundation of all international human rights laws. In 1954, UNHCR won the Nobel Peace Price for its tireless work in Europe. Moreover, the start of the 21st Century has witnessed UNHCR help with major refugee crises in Africa, the Middle East, and Asia. The organization is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland and it works in more than 128 countries worldwide.

Human rights are inviolable. They must not be taken away, except in specific conditions. Moreover, for the last 72 years, the organization is still working hard and protecting the assisting refugees worldwide.

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