Protecting Refugees > Overview
Protecting Refugees
Protecting Refugees
Based on the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and its 1967 Protocol, as well as UNHCR's Statute, the agency's mandate is to ensure the international protection of 32.9 million uprooted people worldwide. It works to ensure the basic human rights of refugees will be respected and also that they will not be returned involuntarily to a country where they face persecution. It helps them to repatriate to their homeland when conditions permit, integrate into states of asylum or, if necessary, to resettle in third countries.
UNHCR promotes international refugee agreements and the development of the international refugee protection regime; helps states establish asylum structures; and has the responsibility of supervising the application of the refugee instruments.
Handbook for Determining Refugee Status and Guidelines on International Protection
Guide to some of the criteria for the determination of refugee status.
1951 Refugee Convention
The UN Refugee Convention created in Geneva in 1951 has been instrumental in helping over 50 million people. Supplemented by a Protocol in 1967, it is the cornerstone of refugee protection and remains relevant despite its critics.
Resettlement
Refugees are not always able to return safely home or to remain in the country where they first received asylum. There are situations in which resettlement to a third country is the only safe and viable durable solution for refugees. Thanks to the generosity of resettlement countries resettlement has become a fundamental element of the system for the international protection of refugees.
UNHCR comments on key asylum law and policy in Europe
This link will bring you outside the UNHCR Ireland website to UNHCR's global site. There you will find UNHCR's observations on EC law and EU policy development on asylum, refugee protection and other issues relevant to the work of UNHCR. Among other subjects, the comments address current proposals and adopted texts, initatives and programmes, including those of the European Council, the European Parliament and the European Commission.