United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced on Monday, June 8, 2026, the appointment of Ms. Edem Wosornu of Ghana as the new Assistant High Commissioner for Protection in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Ms. Wosornu succeeds Ruvendrini Menikdiwela of Sri Lanka. Both the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Refugees expressed gratitude to Ms. Menikdiwela for her dedicated service to the refugee cause.
The newly appointed Assistant High Commissioner brings over two decades of extensive leadership experience in humanitarian affairs, operational coordination, and emergency response to her new role.
Since 2023, she has served as the Director of the Crisis Response Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), where she managed global operations and led system-wide responses to major emergencies.
She also currently chairs the Inter-Agency Standing Committee (IASC) Emergency Directors Group.
Prior to her current division role, Ms. Wosornu held multiple senior positions within OCHA at both UN Headquarters and in the field.
Her previous assignments include serving as Chief of the Response Support Branch in Geneva from 2021 to 2023, Head of Office in Nigeria from 2018 to 2020, and Head of Office in Somalia from 2014 to 2015. Additionally, she was the Chief of the Strategic Planning, Evaluations, and Guidance Section in New York between 2016 and 2018, Chief of the Asia-Pacific Section from 2015 to 2016, and Deputy Head of Office in Somalia from 2012 to 2013.
Her extensive field career also includes deployment assignments during the 2004 to 2005 earthquake relief efforts in Pakistan, as well as missions to Darfur, Sudan, and Yemen in 2010. Notably, her career with the United Nations originally began as an intern with the UNHCR, where she also previously held legal protection roles in Sudan.
Before entering international civil service, she worked in the private legal sector in the United Kingdom.
Ms. Wosornu holds a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B.) from Hull University and a Master of Laws (LL.M.) in International Banking and Finance Law from University College London (UCL), alongside a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the College of Law in London.
She is fluent in English and Fante, speaks some Ewe, and maintains a working knowledge of French.
By: Rainbowradioonline.com/Ghana