New York - No one foresaw in the late 1960s that the young
student doing social work in Lisbon would someday become the UN high
commissioner for refugees.
But Antonio Guterres, 67, has gone even further at the organization -
all the way to the top.
After being sworn in on Monday, Guterres is set to assume the
position of UN secretary general on January 1, 2017, for a term of
five years.
Guterres, who was prime minister of Portugal from 1995-2002, has
always been known as a humanist, but also a realist and a doer.
As high commissioner for refugees, a job that sometimes paired him
with Hollywood star and UN Special Envoy Angelina Jolie, he spent
more than 10 years dealing with one of the worst migration crises the
world has ever seen.
When he rejected the nomination of the Socialist Party to run for
president of Portugal at the beginning of the year, he said in an
interview with broadcaster RTP that heads of state are like referees,
and he wanted to play ball.
"I would like to be on the pitch in the action and constantly
engaged" he said. As a student he wanted to "change a society full of
unjustices."
Guterres, who was educated as an engineer, wants to apply all of his
experience to the top position at the United Nations, he explained
several months ago after being nominated to become head of the UN.
"I lived through a revolution in Portugal (the Carnation Revolution
in 1974). I was then at the forefront of the democratization of our
country, was a party member and member of government. And then I had
an unbelievable chance for 10 years (2005-15) to help in supporting
of refugees," he said.
As high commissioner of refugees he frequently pilloried the European
Union's inability to manage the crisis.
On the homepage of the UN refugee commission, there is a portrait of
this man from the Lisbon suburb of Santos-o-Velho, saying he carried
out a far-reaching structural reform that reduced personnel 20 per
cent and worked more effectively with fewer costs.
The curriculum vitae of the father of two children shows that he
speaks English, French, Spanish and Portuguese. He was also the only
Portuguese prime minister who survived an entire legislative period
with a minority government.
Guterres wants to be a "doer," but he will keep both feet on the
ground and promises no utopia. In 2002 he was quoted as saying: "If
you don't suffer from megalomania, you know that you cannot try to
save humanity. I don't want to save humanity, but I want to do
whatever is in my power to achieve improvements."