Karolina Lindholm Billing presented her credentials to the First Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs, Ms. Emine Dzheppar, today 2 June, and expressed her eagerness to continue working closely with the Ukrainian Government, UN and NGO partners, donors, private and civil society actors and, importantly, the persons UNHCR is mandated to serve in pursuit of the Agency’s protection and solutions mission.
“As I am joining UNHCR Ukraine, I would like to offer my experience and expertise to the Government and the people in Ukraine to find efficient and sustainable ways of ensuring that people who have been forced to flee their homes and been affected by persecution or conflict, or who lack citizenship, can enjoy protection, live in dignity and attain durable solutions to their plight. Working in partnership with all stakeholders – in a whole of society approach – is a part of our global commitment and strategy to Protect, Respond, Include, Empower and Solve. After all, the experience of COVID-19 has showed that we will only empower people to protect themselves from contracting the virus and end this pandemic if we all contribute and work together,” said Karolina Lindholm Billing.
Prior to taking up her assignment in Ukraine, Karolina served for 4,5 years as UNHCR’s Deputy Representative (Protection) in Lebanon, one of UNHCR’s largest operations worldwide. Karolina Lindholm Billing joined UNHCR in 1999, as Associate Protection Officer in the then-Liaison Office for the Baltic Countries, which was located in Riga and covering Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania. Since then, she has worked for UNHCR in various management, legal and protection policy functions, in field operations in Africa, Europe and the Middle East, and at UNHCR’s Headquarters in Geneva.
Her latest assignments in UNHCR include Deputy Representative (protection) in Lebanon, Deputy Regional Representative for the Nordic and Baltic Countries, Senior Protection Officer in Zambia, Senior Liaison Officer (Human Rights) in the Division of International Protection at UNHCR’s Headquarters and Protection Officer in North Macedonia.
Karolina holds a Master’s in Law degree, with a specialization in human rights and refugee law from the University of Stockholm. She speaks Swedish, English and basic French, is married and has three children.
Please, follow Karolina on Twitter: @KarolinaBilling
Note for editors:
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, leads international action to protect people forced to flee their homes because of conflict and persecution. We deliver life-saving assistance such as shelter, food and water, help safeguard fundamental human rights, and develop solutions that ensure people have a safe place to call home where they can build a better future. We also work to ensure that stateless people are granted a nationality. In Ukraine, UNHCR has been working since 1994 to protect the rights of refugees, asylum seekers and stateless persons. Since 2014, UNHCR has been supporting the Ukrainian government and the Ukrainian civil society in responding to the forced displacement of around 1.5 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) from the Autonomous Republic of Crimea and Donbas in eastern Ukraine.
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