Machiel Salomons

Machiel Salomons was born in The Hague, the Netherlands. He holds a Master’s Degree in International Law from the University of Amsterdam and pursued post-graduate studies, International Human Rights Law at Oxford University (New College). After an internship with the United Nations in New York, he began his career with the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and then joined the Evaluation Service of United Nations World Food Programme in Rome.

His first field assignment was in Hong Kong, where he joined UNHCR as Field Officer during the height of the emergency influx of Vietnamese refugees in South East Asia. After two-half years, he moved to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia where he headed the voluntary repatriation Unit. In 1994, Machiel transferred to Geneva as Executive Assistant to the Director of the Europe Bureau covering such huge topics as the war in the Former Yugoslavia and CIS Conference.

After nearly four and a half year in Geneva, he moved the Guinea to Head the Protection Department during the Sierra Leone and Liberia Emergencies. He witnessed first-hand, the most significant human rights violations imaginable and documented cases of victims of the brutal atrocities committed by the Revolutionary United Front in Sierra Leone. Three years later, Machiel became Senior Regional Protection Officer based in Zambia covering Zimbabwe and Malawi; all three countries witnessed the arrival of countless refugees from the DRC and Angola.

Returning to Europe in 2003, he became Deputy Regional Representative in Berlin, Germany, Representative in Romania, and United Nations Resident Coordinator in Romania. He successfully negotiated the establishment of the first Emergency Transit Centre in the world, based in Timisoara, Romania. He then moved to Mozambique, again as Representative. Since 2012, Machiel is Principal Policy and Evaluation Officer in the Executive Office. Some of the evaluation reports he has co-drafted, including on South Sudan, Jordan, Lebanon, Turkey, the Central African Republic and Kenya and refugee status determination procedures may be found on the UNHCR’s website.