Portugals tidligere premierminister, Antonio Guterres, blev tirsdag udpeget til ny chef for FNs Flygtningehøjkommissariat (UNHCR) for de næste 3 år med tiltrædelse den 15. juni.
Med meddelelsen fra FN-generalsekretær Kofi Annan stod det klart, at danskeren Søren Jessen-Petersen, der også var kandidat til posten, er ude af billedet.
Søren Jessen-Petersen er tidligere vicehøjkommissær for flygtninge og bestrider i øjeblikket posten som Kofi Annans særlige udsending i Serbiens FN-administrerede Kosovo-provins. Han sad i sin tid tæt på Poul Hartling i UNHCR-hovedkvarteret i Geneve, da den tidl. Venstre-statsminister var chef for organisationen
Dermed er Danmark støvsuget som aldrig før for FN-topposter. Vi har mistet flere betydningsfulde poster, siden VK-regeringen kom til i november 2001 og danske kandidater til flere topjobs er blevet vraget af Kofi Annan.
UNHCR er verdens største flygtningeorganisation og har et årligt budget på tæt ved en milliard dollar (5,8 milliarder kr.). Organisationen har 6.000 ansatte i 115 lande og arbejder for at forbedre forholdene for 17 millioner hjemløse mennesker.
Guterres afløser den tidligere hollandske premierminister Ruud Lubbers, der trådte tilbage i februar i vrede over beskyldninger om sexchikane, der var rettet mod ham fra flere kvindelige ansatte.
Omtale af Guterres i FNs nyhedstjeneste:
Mr. Guterres is currently President of the Socialist International, a position he has held since 1999. Since 2003, he has also been an Advisor to the Board of Portugals second largest bank, Caixa Geral de Depósitos.
He is an invited professor of the Instituto Superior Tecnico, responsible for the Chairs of Sustainable Development and Innovation.
Mr. Guterres was Prime Minister of Portugal from 1996 to 2002. He was also a Member of the Portuguese Parliament from 1976 to 1983 and from 1985 to 1995. In addition, from 1981 to 1983, Mr. Guterres was a Member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, in Strasbourg.
Apart from an extensive political, professional and academic curriculum, as well as a number of publications, Mr. Guterres has also been involved in the activities of many non-governmental organizations.
He was a founding member, for example, of the Portuguese Refugee Council in 1991. He is also a Member of the Club of Madrid and of the Ibero-American Forum.
Mr. Guterres has a technical background in engineering and a degree in engineering from the Instituto Superior Tecnico, in Portugal. He also had an academic experience in the mid-1970s as an Assistant Professor of Physics and Telecommunications.
Mr. Guterres was born on 30 April 1949 in Lisbon. He is married and has two children.
