Essential Attributes for the Next UN High Commissioner for Refugees

What Refugee-Focused NGOs Expect in a Leader

November 2025

ICVA’s Forced Displacement Working Group brings together a diverse network of international, national, and local NGOs and refugee-led organisations working across refugee contexts globally, often in close partnership with UNHCR.

As the search for the next UN High Commissioner for Refugees is underway, our members are clear about the leadership needed at this pivotal time.

The priorities and attributes outlined below reflect the priorities of our network and the realities facing forcibly displaced and stateless people globally. They represent the kind of bold, principled, and accountable leadership required to steer UNHCR through escalating crises, shifting political landscapes, and growing demands for inclusion, equity, and protection.

Essential Attributes for the next UNHCR High Commissioner

Champion of Refugee Leadership and Localisation 

  • Deep belief in refugee agency and local ownership, with willingness to explore new modalities to share resources and power. 
  • Proven ability to elevate refugee-led organisations (RLOs) as equal partners in humanitarian action.
  • Commitment to embedding meaningful participation and power-sharing in UNHCR’s governance and policy structures. 
  • Strategic vision to translate localisation principles into measurable institutional reforms, including flexible and multi-year funding, particularly for typically excluded actors such as RLOs and local and national NGOs. 

Advocate for Dignified and Inclusive Human Mobility 

  • Broad understanding of human mobility, encompassing refugees, stateless persons, and internally displaced populations. 
  • Commitment to advancing the UN Secretary-General’s Action Agenda on Internal Displacement and engagement in the Global Solutions Hub, ensuring UNHCR’s leadership aligns with system-wide efforts to support solutions for Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). 
  • Strong grasp of the interconnections between forced displacement, freedom of movement, climate change, and human rights. 
  • Experience in disaster response and climate resilience, with a nuanced understanding of the conflict–climate nexus as underscored in UNHCR’s No Escape series. 
  • Moral clarity and political courage to speak out against externalisation, pushbacks, and inhumane border practices. 

Gender Equality and Youth Empowerment Leader

  • Demonstrated commitment to gender-responsive leadership and equitable representation within humanitarian institutions. 
  • Ability to foster conducive environments for refugee women and youth led innovation, advocacy, and solutions design.
  • Track record of promoting inclusion and gender balance in organisational leadership and staffing. 
  • Steadfastly advocates for the rights of LGBTQI+ and gender diverse refugees, promoting safe, dignified, and inclusive protection systems that address their specific risks. 

Pragmatic Reformer with Integrity and Moral Courage 

  • Unwavering defender of international refugee law, particularly the 1951 Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, despite increasing political pressures. 
  • Skilled reformer capable of strengthening institutional accountability, transparency, and efficiency. 
  • Courageous voice for principled humanitarianism and predictable, long-term financing. 
  • Integrity-driven leader who inspires trust among staff, partners, and refugee communities. 

Connector and Bridge Builder 

  • Partnership-oriented mindset, able to convene and collaborate across governments, civil society including with refugee-led organisations, private sector, and academia. 
  • Talent for fostering trust-based relationships and inclusive dialogue across diverse stakeholders.
  • Systems thinker who advances the Humanitarian–Development–Peace Nexus, supporting national inclusion of refugees while safeguarding protection standards. 
  • Actively confronts anti-refugee narratives and disinformation, reshaping public discourse with truth, empathy, and evidence. 

Bold and Principled Humanitarian Leader 

  • Visionary leadership rooted in inclusion, accountability, and reform. 
  • Ability to restore credibility and inspire collective action within and beyond the humanitarian system. 
  • Commitment to tackle racism and discrimination within protection systems, driving institutional change that guarantees fairness, equality, and dignity for all displaced people. 
  • Dedication to ensuring that refugees and displaced persons are recognised not as beneficiaries but as partners shaping their own futures.