By Morkporkpor Anku
Accra, June 9, GNA – The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres, has appointed a Ghanaian humanitarian expert, Ms Edem Wosornu, as Assistant High Commissioner for Protection at the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).
Ms Wosornu, who currently serves as Director of the Crisis Response Division at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), will assume the role vacated by Ms 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.
Ms Wosornu brings over two decades of experience in humanitarian affairs to the position, spanning emergency response, operational coordination, and senior leadership at both the UN Headquarters and in the field.
Since 2023, she has led OCHA’s Crisis Response Division, overseeing global humanitarian operations and system-wide coordination across major emergencies.
She also chairs the Inter-Agency Standing Committee Emergency Directors Group.
Her extensive field career includes postings as Head of Office in Nigeria (2018–2020) and Somalia (2014–2015), Chief of the Response Support Branch in Geneva (2021–2023), Chief of the Strategic Planning, Evaluations and Guidance Section in New York (2016–2018), Chief of the Asia-Pacific Section (2015–2016), and Deputy Head of Office in Somalia (2012–2013).
Ms Wosornu has also served in Darfur, Sudan; Pakistan during earthquake relief operations (2004–2005); Yemen (2010); and in legal protection roles with UNHCR in Sudan.
She began her UN career as an intern at the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, having previously worked in the private legal sector in the United Kingdom.
She holds an LL.B from Hull University, United Kingdom; LL.M in International Banking and Finance Law from University College London; and a Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Studies from the College of Law, London.
She speaks English, Fante, some Ewe, and has a working knowledge of French.
GNA
Edited by Agnes Boye-Doe
Reporter: Morkporkpor Anku