Triggs to lead protection at UNHCR

The Kaldor Centre extends our congratulations to Gillian Triggs on her appointment as UNHCR’s Assistant High Commissioner for Protection. 

She succeeds Volker Türk, who led the development of the Global Compact on Refugees before taking up the position of Assistant Secretary-General for Strategic Coordination at the United Nations in New York. 

In this Geneva-based role, Triggs will lead the agency’s global protection work, overseeing policy for millions of refugees, internally displaced, stateless and other people of concern. 

She will be stepping down from the Kaldor Centre’s Advisory Committee. ‘Gillian has been a member of the committee since the Kaldor Centre was established in 2013,” Director Jane McAdam said. ‘We have greatly appreciated her dedication and support over this period, and we wish her all the very best in her important new role.

‘It is vital to have a strong voice upholding legal protection for refugees, notwithstanding the challenging political climate.’

Currently Vice-Chancellor’s Fellow and Emeritus Professor at the University of Melbourne, Triggs in 2017 completed a five-year term as President of the Australian Human Rights Commission. 

UN High Commissioner for Refugees Filippo Grandi welcomed Triggs to the agency, where she will start work in the coming weeks. “Gillian Triggs brings to UNHCR extensive expertise, knowledge and vast experience in international refugee protection that will contribute enormously to our efforts to protect, assist and find solutions for those forced by violence and persecution to flee their homes,” Grandi said. 

“At this challenging time when displacement globally is at record levels, this appointment reaffirms our commitment to international protection as the core of all of UNHCR’s work on behalf of the world’s refugees, displaced and stateless people.”