United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres has announced the appointment of Ms Edem Wosornu of Ghana as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection, in the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Ms. Wosornu will succeed Ruvendrini Menikdiwela of Sri Lanka, to whom both the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Refugees are grateful for her dedicated service to the refugee cause.
She has been serving as Director of the Crisis Response Division at the UN Office for Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) since 2023, overseeing global operations and leading system-wide coordination across major emergencies. She is also the current chair of the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Emergency (IASCE) Directors Group.
Ms Wosornu brings to the position over two decades of experience in humanitarian affairs, including extensive leadership roles in emergency response and operational coordination.
Prior to her current role, she held several senior positions at UN Headquarters and in the field within OCHA, including, Chief of the Response Support Branch in Geneva (2021–2023), Head of Office in Nigeria (2018–2020) and Somalia (2014–2015), Chief of the Strategic Planning Evaluations and Guidance Section in New York (2016–2018), and Chief of the Asia-Pacific Section (2015-2016), and Deputy Head of Office in Somalia (2012–2013.)
She also undertook assignments in Darfur-Sudan, in Pakistan, Earthquake Relief (2004–2005), Yemen (2010), and legal protection roles with UNHCR in Sudan.
Ms Wosornu’s UN journey began as an intern in the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, and before that she worked in the private legal sector in the United Kingdom.
She holds an LL.B (Bachelor of Law) from Hull University, UK; LL.M (Master of Laws) in International Banking and Finance Law from University College London (UCL); as well as a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the College of Law, London.
In addition to English and Fante, plus some Ewe, Ms Wosornu has a working level of French