Frederick Barton is named UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner
Frederick Barton is named UNHCR Deputy High Commissioner
Frederick Barton, a director of the US Agency for International Development, has been appointed Deputy United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees.
High Commissioner Sadako Ogata announced today the appointment of Barton, who has headed the USAID's Office of Transition Initiatives in Washington since 1994.
Barton, 49, takes over from Gerald Walzer, who retired in May after a distinguished 40-year career with UNHCR.
A United States citizen, Barton has managed programmes as diverse as human rights monitoring in Rwanda, land-mine awareness and clearing projects in Angola, ethnic tolerance and violence avoidance campaigns in Indonesia and the promotion of objective news reporting in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro.
Barton also spent 12 years in the private sector, providing strategic planning, organizational development and marketing assistance to a wide range of clients. "His experience in field-driven development, reconstruction and rehabilitation programmes will be a valuable asset for UNHCR in our efforts to facilitate the relief-to-development transition," Ogata said in a statement.
"His expertise in the areas of management, including crisis management, budgets, finance and personnel, and his demonstrable analytical and communication skills will serve UNHCR well," she said.
A 1971 graduate of Harvard College, Barton received his MBA in public management from Boston University in 1982. He is married to Kathryn Lunney, Deputy General Counsel of the US Department of Commerce. They are parents of a 10-year-old daughter.
