The Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was created in 1950. Its principal function is to protect and provide material assistance to the world's refugees - people fleeing persecution in their homelands - and to find durable solutions to their problems. In recent years UNHCR has also been called upon to protect or assist groups of internally displaced people who have not crossed an international border but are in a refugee-like situation inside their country of origin. The Office of the High Commissioner has twice been awarded the Nobel Peace Prize for its work (in 1954 and 1981). The current High Commissioner is former Dutch Prime Minister Ruud Lubbers who assumed office on January 1, 2001.

When it was first created by the U.N. General Assembly, UNHCR was envisaged as a temporary office to resettle the 1.2 million European refugees left homeless in the aftermath of World War II. Today UNHCR has evolved into one of the world's principle humanitarian agencies with offices in more than 120 countries. At the beginning of 2000, some 22.3 million people in over 140 countries were of concern to UNHCR. They include not only refugees, but also increasingly the victims of civil war, internally displaced people who have fled from their homes but have not crossed into another country. UNHCR has also aided residents of besieged communities, such as Sarajevo during the war in ex-Yugoslavia.

The UNHCR designs and administers programs to assist first asylum countries in providing food, shelter and other emergency relief to refugees on their soil. Its goal in each refugee situation is to find permanent or durable solutions to the problems through voluntary repatriation, local integration, or resettlement in another country. Until durable solutions are found, the UNHCR is often requested by governments to provide emergency aid and longer-term assistance to refugees. UNHCR's work is funded from public and private sources, and it makes regular international appeals for specific refugee situations.

The statute of the Office gives the High Commissioner authority to provide international protection for refugees somewhat similar to that provided by states for their own nationals abroad. It seeks to ensure that refugees are treated in accordance with the provisions of two international instruments established for their benefit:

The 1951 UN Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees, which calls on the UNHCR to provide protection and solutions for persons who have suffered persecution or fear persecution if returned to their countries of origin (i.e. those with a "well-founded fear of persecution" if returned home). The convention also defines refugees' basic rights and lays down minimum standards of treatment.

The 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees, which extends the Convention's provisions to new groups of refugees by removing previous time and geographic limitations. (By January 1996, 129 countries had acceded to the Convention, the Protocol, or both.)

A broader definition of a refugee (deriving from the 1967 Organization of African Unity [OAU] Convention) applies in Africa for victims of internal conflict and violence, and a similar definition applies to refugees in Latin America.

The UNHCR at times is requested by the UN Secretary-General to act as lead agency for extraordinary humanitarian operations. Such operations may include assistance to groups which do not fit the official definition of refugee because they have fled their homes in time of civil conflict. Also, the UN Secretary General and General Assembly can call upon the UNHCR to use its good offices to extend assistance and protection to specific groups of individuals. This "good offices" mandate has been used by UNHCR in addressing a number of internally displaced persons problems, including Bosnia-Herzegovina, Kosovo, East Timor, Sri Lanka and most recently Angola. UNHCR was the lead humanitarian agency in Kosovo throughout the conflict. During NATO air strikes UNHCR looked after more than 800,000 Albanians expelled from Kosovo by the Serbian paramilitary and police. UNHCR also handled the subsequent massive return of Kosovo Albanians.

To accomplish its objectives, UNHCR coordinates the efforts of individual governments, UN agencies and non-governmental organizations to channel funds, supplies and services provided by various donors to meet refugee needs. In its operations, for example, UNHCR works closely with the UN World Food Program (WFP) to make sure staple food supplies reach those in need; with the International Organization for Migration (IOM) to help refugees move to new homes. UNHCR also works closely with OCHA (see following chapter. In the field, NGO are often the backbone of UNHCR operations. During the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia and in many other crises, the US based Catholic Relief Services and the International Rescue Committee played a key role in UNHCR's relief effort.

UNHCR's governing body is the Executive Committee (EXCOM) comprised of 57 states elected by ECOSOC. EXCOM includes major donor nations as well as countries which host large refuge populations. The body holds an annual meeting in Geneva in the autumn.

At the beginning of 2000, UNHCR estimated that there were over 22.3 million persons of concern to the agency world wide, of whom 11.6 million were refugees, four million were internally displaced people, 3.8 million were returnees and 7.5 million were others of concern to UNHCR. Many internally displaced people do not fall under UNHCR's mandate, and the agency estimates that the total number of IDPs worldwide may be as high as 20 to 25 million. Although its protection is extended to all persons of concern, UNHCR gives material assistance mainly to refugees in developing countries. They include approximately one million persons in the Great Lakes Region of Africa who remain displaced or still require resettlement assistance, following the conflicts in Rwanda, Burundi and the Republic of the Congo; Afghans (some 2.7 million refugees continue to live in Pakistan and Iran, India and the CIS); and more than one million Liberians and Sierra Leoneans who have fled civil war. UNHCR also assists refugees to return to their homes: since 1991, well over a million have repatriated to countries such as Cambodia, Mozambique and Iraq.

UNHCR has taken the lead in forging the link between refugee aid and development aid. It works with a host of intergovernmental and private humanitarian organizations in self-help and emergency-relief programs, and programs which take into account the needs of local populations affected by large inflows of refugees.

UNHCR has a Rescue-at-Sea Program which encourages and facilitates the rescue of refugees at sea by the merchant vessels of many countries, including the United States.

Orderly Departure Program (ODP): until October 1990, UNHCR was actively involved in the orderly departure of Indochinese refugees from Vietnam under a program which has permitted hundreds of thousands of Vietnamese to emigrate legally to resettlement countries instead of undertaking dangerous clandestine departures overland or by sea as boat people. The ODP was set up in 1979 under a memorandum of understanding between UNHCR and the Vietnamese government, and in October 1990, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) took over full management of the ODP. (See IOM chapter for more details.)

Emergency Preparedness: To strengthen the Office's capability to respond to refugee emergencies, the UNHCR has created an emergency response unit and issued a comprehensive handbook concerning emergency field operations and administrative procedures.

Women Refugees
In 1990, UNHCR's governing Executive Committee adopted a policy aimed at improving the protection of women refugees and increasing their access to UNHCR assistance. Women and children are estimated to make up three-quarters of the estimated 22,3 million people of concern to UNHCR worldwide, and are felt to be particularly vulnerable to the scarcities and violence faced by refugees and displaced people.

Nansen Medal
Each year UNHCR awards the Nansen Medal for outstanding service to refugees. Three American merchant seamen were awarded the medal in 1984 for having gone out of their way to rescue 85 Vietnamese refugees adrift in the South China Sea. The medal is named after the Norwegian explorer, Dr. Fridtjof Nansen, who was the originator of the principle of international protection of refugees, and the first League of Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Nansen created the Nansen passport, which gives a valid travel document to stateless persons.

Comprehensive Plan of Action
Starting in the mid 1970s, hundreds of thousands of "boat people" began to leave Viet Nam to reach the shores of Hong Kong and southeast Asia. For years, UNHCR worked to ensure that every one of them would be able to start a new life in a country of resettlement in the West. By 1989, 14 years after the change of regime in south Vietnam, resettlement countries were increasingly impatient with the continuing outflow, and it was clear that not every boat person was fleeing actual persecution. Many were economic migrants.

In 1989, the first asylum countries in Asia, resettlement countries in the West and UNHCR agreed on a Comprehensive Plan of Action. Every asylum seeker from Viet Nam would be screened individually for refugee status and given the right of appeal. Since the countries of Asia refused to accept them permanently, with the exception of Japan, all those who were refugees would be resettled in the West. Non refugees would ultimately have to return to Vietnam. By March 1999, some 110,000 non-refugee boat people had returned to Vietnam. Although most were judged not to have valid claims as refugees, UNHCR has given these returnees substantial financial assistance. Upon their repatriation to Vietnam, UNHCR extensively monitored returnees at their homes to verify that they were not persecuted for having illegally left the country as well as to follow-up on their reintegration.

US Policy
The United States is the largest donor to all major organizations supporting refugees in countries of first asylum. Since the Second World War, more refugees have found permanent homes in the United States than in any other country. Since 1975, the United States has resettled well over a million refugees from all sources.

United States Refugee Act: The U.S. Refugee Act came into effect on April 1, 1980, replacing the section of the 1951 U.S. Immigration and Nationality Act dealing with the eligibility of refugees for admission to the United States. The 1980 Act adopts the UN definition of a refugee: a person outside his country who has a "well-founded fear of persecution on account of race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group, or political opinion" if he were to return to his country.

Budget: UNHCR is almost entirely funded by direct, voluntary contributions from governments, non-governmental organizations and individuals. There is also a very limited subsidy from the regular budget of the United Nations, which is used exclusively for administrative costs. U.S. voluntary contributions to UNHCR in 1999 totaled US $ 292.8 million - the biggest share of UNHCR's annual budget ever paid the United States.

UNHCR's budget peaked in 1994 when its requirements exceeded US$ 1.4 billion, primarily because of refugee emergencies in former Yugoslavia, the Great Lakes region of Africa and elsewhere. Due to the completion of several repatriations and fewer large-scale emergencies, UNHCR is now reducing its budgets. The 2000 budget amounted to US $965,278,424.

Internet:
www.unhcr.ch
Basic information about UNHCR, speeches by the High Commissioner, a daily summary of refugee related news stories from around the world, UNHCR press releases and briefing notes, handbook on procedures and criteria for determining refugee status, and a wide variety of statistics on refugee populations.

Address:
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Rue de Montbrillant
P.O. Box 2500
CH-1202 Geneva 2 Depot
Tel. 739.8111
Fax. 731.9546