Antón Leis García
UNHCR
Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres announced today the appointment of Antón Leis García of Spain as Assistant High Commissioner for Operations, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Mr. Leis García will succeed Raouf Mazou of the Republic of Congo, to whom both the Secretary-General and the High Commissioner for Refugees are grateful for his dedicated service to the refugee cause.
Mr. Leis García currently serves as Director of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID), Spain’s development and humanitarian agency. He brings to the position extensive experience in international cooperation and multilateral affairs, with a strong focus on development, governance and partnerships. Prior to his current role, he held several senior positions at the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), the General Secretariat for International Affairs, the European Union (EU), the G20 and the Global Security of the Office of the President of the Spanish Government, as well as international financial institutions such as the African Development Bank and the World Bank Group.
Mr. Leis García holds a master’s degree in law from Harvard Law School, United States of America and a double master’s degree in public administration from the London School of Economics, and Sciences Po Paris, France. In addition to his native Spanish, he speaks English, French and Portuguese.
