António Guterres is a Portuguese politician and diplomat who has served as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations since 1 January 2017. Previously, he held the positions of Prime Minister of Portugal and United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, shaping his career around the goals of peace and multilateral international cooperation.
António Guterres was born in 1949 in Lisbon, the capital of Portugal. He graduated with an engineering degree from the Instituto Superior Técnico in Lisbon. Guterres is fluent in Portuguese, English, French and Spanish.
Guterres was elected to the Portuguese Parliament in 1976 and served as a member for 17 years. During this time, he chaired the Committee on Economy, Finance and Planning, and later the Committee on Regional Administration, Municipalities and Environment. He also led his party’s parliamentary group.
He served as Prime Minister of Portugal from 1995 to 2002. During this period, he played an active international role in resolving the East Timor crisis. In early 2000, he held the presidency of the Council of Europe, during which he led the adoption of the Lisbon Agenda aimed at promoting growth and employment, and co-chaired the first European Union–Africa Summit. He was also a member of the Portuguese Council of State from 1991 to 2002.
From 1981 to 1983, Guterres served as a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and chaired its Committee on Demography, Migration and Refugees.
A long-time active member of the Socialist International, Guterres served as vice president from 1992 to 1999 and as president from 1999 to 2005. He also founded the Portuguese Refugee Council and the Portuguese Consumers’ Union DECO. In the early 1970s, he led the Centro de Acção Social Universitário, which implemented social development projects in the poor neighborhoods of Lisbon. He is also a member of the Club of Madrid.
In 2005, António Guterres was elected by the UN General Assembly as the tenth United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, a position he held for ten years until the end of 2015. During his tenure, he led one of the most comprehensive structural reform processes in UNHCR’s history. The agency’s operational scope expanded significantly due to conflicts in Syria and Iraq, as well as crises in South Sudan, the Central African Republic and Yemen. The number of forcibly displaced people rose from 38 million in 2005 to over 60 million in 2015.
On 13 October 2016, the UN General Assembly appointed him as the ninth Secretary-General of the United Nations for a five-year term beginning 1 January 2017. During his tenure as Secretary-General, Guterres has identified the protection of human dignity as a core priority. His work has focused on supporting the global response to the COVID-19 pandemic within the framework of UN mandates, combating the climate crisis, advancing gender equality, and strengthening the UN’s capacity in the fields of peace, sustainable development, human rights and humanitarian aid.
He has initiated technological transformation and institutional reform processes aimed at making the United Nations more innovative, effective, transparent and accountable, with the goal of improving gender balance and geographic representation.
António Guterres has been awarded the 2025 Atatürk International Peace Prize for his efforts to strengthen peace and stability worldwide, as part of Presidency of the Republic of Türkiye Culture and Arts Grand Awards. It has been publicly announced that the award will be presented to Guterres in his capacity as Secretary-General of the United Nations by President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.
António Guterres is married to Catarina de Almeida Vaz Pinto. He has two children, one stepson and three grandchildren.
Early Life and Education
Political Career in Portugal
International Parliamentary and Civil Activities
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Secretary-General of the United Nations
2025 Atatürk International Peace Prize
Personal Life
