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Base: Geneva
Date
Founded: December 14, 1950
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Names
of key spokespersons/officers High Commissioner:
Mr. Antonio Guterres, Chairman -
H.E. Ambassador Ichiro Fujisaki (Japan), Vice-Chairman - H.E.
Ambassador Mindua Kesia-Mbe (Dem. Republic of the Congo),
Rapporteur - Ms. Blomberg (Sweden)
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Key
constituency/audience:
Because the UNHCR is a worldwide
organization, there are several key audiences. The first is
refugees and asylum-seekers. Another (quite large) audience is
the governments of the countries from which refugees are leaving
as well as those to which they are relocating to. A third
audience is the major financial contributors to the UNHCR (the
United States is the number-one contributor).
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Agency’s main activities:
The main activities of the UNHCR
include safeguarding the rights and well-being of refugees,
providing emergency relief to those who need it, offering legal
support, and working with governments worldwide to improve
refugees' protection.
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Mission statement:
"UNHCR, the United
Nations refugee organization, is mandated by the United Nations
to lead and coordinate international action for the world-wide
protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems.
UNHCR’s primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and
well-being of refugees. UNHCR strives to ensure that everyone
can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in
another state, and to return home voluntarily.
By assisting refugees to return to their own country or to
settle in another country, UNHCR also seeks lasting solutions to
their plight.
UNHCR’s efforts are mandated by the organization’s Statute, and
guided by the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the
Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol.
International refugee law provides an essential framework of
principles for UNHCR’s humanitarian activities.
UNHCR’s Executive Committee and the UN General Assembly have
also authorized the organization’s involvement with other
groups. These include people who are stateless or whose
nationality is disputed and, in certain circumstances,
internally displaced persons.
To ensure the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge... To
protect refugees and to promote solutions
UNHCR seeks to reduce situations of forced displacement by
encouraging states and other institutions to create conditions
which are conducive to the protection of human rights and the
peaceful resolution of disputes. In pursuit of the same
objective, UNHCR actively seeks to consolidate the reintegration
of returning refugees in their country of origin, thereby
averting the recurrence of refugee-producing situations.
UNHCR offers protection and assistance to refugees and others in
an impartial manner, on the basis of their need and irrespective
of their race, religion, political opinion or gender. In all of
its activities, UNHCR pays particular attention to the needs of
children and seeks to promote the equal rights of women and
girls.
In its efforts to protect refugees and to promote solutions to
their problems, UNHCR works in partnership with governments,
regional organizations, international and non-governmental
organizations.
UNHCR is committed to the principle of participation by
consulting refugees on decisions that affect their lives.
By virtue of its activities on behalf of refugees and displaced
people, UNHCR also promotes the purposes and principles of the
United Nations Charter: maintaining international peace and
security; developing friendly relations among nations; and
encouraging respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms."
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Key
im/migration issues of concern to this agency:
The UNHCR's main im/migration
concerning issues deal with relocating refugees to countries of
asylum, and/or resettling them in third countries. The
organization is active in all steps of this process. They
provide legal protection and basic needs assistance, but they
also are actively working towards improving refugee protection
worldwide through multilateral special agreements.
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Evidence/sources/research/communities which the UNHCR bases its
informational statements issued, press releases, reports, etc.:
The UNHCR utilizes
contributions/data from their extensive field and headquarters
staff in all of their publications; the agency is actively
involved in many research, analysis, and evaluation projects.
There is also a highly technical legal side of the agency, for
which there is a large database of information available on the
UNHCR's website.
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Publications:
The UNHCR publishes its own
magazine, called "Refugees Magazine". Also published is the
"Global Report" as well as the "Global Appeal", as well as
various other documents. These can be found by going to the
UNHCR's website (http://www.unhcr.org) and clicking on the
"Publications" link.
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UNHCR
in the news:
"UNHCR Moves Congolese Refugees Away from the Border to Ugandan
Settlements" available from the AlertNet Web Page:
http://www.alertnet.org/
This article is about the UNHCR's efforts to relocate over a
thousand Congolese refugees who were fleeing Uganda due to the
fighting in their homeland. "For the past few days, UNHCR and
the Ugandan authorities have been working around the clock to
prepare Nakivale settlement to receive several thousand of the
recently-arrived refugees."
"Heading home: Peter Dut Angon" available from the BBC Web Page:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/4185079.stm
This article is about Sudanese
refugees' plans to return home now that a peace contract has
been signed by government and the Sudanese rebels. Peter Dut
Angon fled Sudan in 1992 and is planning on returning to his
home country to visit his family. In speaking of his family's
attempt to find refuge he states "The United Nations High
Commission for Refugees moved us to Kakuma refugee camp...where
I spent the next nine years."
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Other
issues of interest about the UNHCR:
Since the UNHCR's inception, it
has helped an estimated 50 million refugees/asylum-seekers. A
staff of 6,540 people work in 116 countries assisting refugees
(as well as performing research) in an effort towards long term
protection and rehabilitation.
Is the agency noticeably pro or con immigration? (You may need
to determine this from “reading around” in its position papers,
press releases, news reports, etc) Based on the fact that this
organization's whole purpose is the relocate refugees into other
countries, I would have to say that they are definitely
pro-immigration.
http://www.unhcr.org
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