[1] He was notably counselling and representing asylum-seekers as a member of the Swiss section of Amnesty International.

[4] Since 2004, Kälin has served as the Representative of the United Nations' Secretary-General on the Human Rights of Internally Displaced Persons.

[citation needed] He also served as the Envoy of the Chairmanship of the Nansen Initiative between 2011 and 2016, which lead to the creation of the Platform on Disaster Displacement.

[citation needed] Since spring 2017, Kälin has been serving on the board of directors of the Norwegian Refugee Council.

In 2019, United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres appointed him to the Expert Advisory Group of the High Level-Panel on Internal Displacement under the leadership of Federica Mogherini and Donald Kaberuka.