2021 - Ninette KELLEY’75
It is a distinguished global history, and Ninette Kelley has been an important part of it for nearly two decades. The office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was founded in December, 1950, a few months before the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees was signed in Geneva. As a senior officer in UNHCR, Ninette is now writing a publication to commemorate the 70th anniversaries of those two fundamental events.
Ninette joined UNHCR in 2002 and has served in several senior management positions, both at headquarters and in the field. Prior to her current assignment, Ninette was for four years director of UNHCR’s office in New York City. Before that, she was the agency’s representative in Lebanon (2010-2015), leading one of its most complex refugee operations.
Ninette has also held various policy and consultative roles with international humanitarian agencies focusing on development and refugee issues. In Canada, she served eight years on the Immigration and Refugee Board.
She is the author, with U of T law professor Michael Trebilcock, of The Making of the Mosaic: The History of Canadian Immigration Policy (University of Toronto Press 2010) and has published in the areas of human rights law, citizenship, refugee protection, gender-related persecution and the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. She is a lawyer by training, and currently lives in Toronto.
Back to page