A native of Aargau, Daniel Endres has spent more than 34 years as a humanitarian. More recently, as UN Deputy Special Representative to the Secretary-General, Resident Coordinator/Humanitarian Coordinator for Afghanistan from June 2023 until January 2024 and as UN Regional Humanitarian Coordinator for the Horn of Africa in 2022 and 2023. Before that he worked for more than 30 years for UNHCR, starting as Associate Protection Officer working for Afghan refugees in Peshawar and Quetta in Pakistan in 1989. He then worked in Poland, Yemen, DRC, West Africa, North Caucasus, Balkans and Afghanistan, frequently addressing humanitarian emergency situations. In 2011, he became Director of the Bureau for Europe of UNHCR and then held several senior positions (Directors External Relations, Resilience and Solutions and Global Refugee Forum) until March 2020.

I have dedicated my entire professional life to displaced people. In the field, on the front lines, I’ve seen first-hand the needs and challenges they’re faced with, while realizing how resilient and courageous they are. It’s become very clear to me that we are fighting for a necessary cause. What these people are going through could happen to any of us, so let's step up to help those who need us.