UNITED NATIONS HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR)
Mission/Mandate:
“UNHCR is mandated by the United Nations to lead and coordinate international action for the worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. UNHCR’s primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. In its efforts to achieve this objective, 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.” UNHCR seeks to offer “protection and assistance to refugees and others on the basis of their needs and irrespective of their race, religion, political opinion or gender” (UNHCR Mission Statement, http://www.unhcr.org/publ/PUBL/4565a5742.pdf, accessed on 27 May 2008).
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on 14 December 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCR’s activities are guided by the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. UNHCR is designed as “the organization designed to monitor” the implementation of the Refugee Convention: Article 35 of the 1951 Refugee Convention “requests states to co-operate with UNHCR in matters relating to the implementation of the Convention itself and to any laws, regulations or decrees that states might draw up that could affect refugees” (UNHCR: Protecting Refugees and the Role of UNHCR, 2007/08, p. 17, http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/4034b6a34.pdf, accessed on 27 May 2008).
Today, with its scope of activities broadened, UNHCR also seeks to protect “other groups that are similar to refugees in some ways, but which were not explicitly woven into its mandate at the time of its founding”: asylum seekers, IDPs, returnees, and stateless people (UNHCR: Protecting Refugees and the Role of UNHCR, 2007/08, p. 12-13 and 19-20, http://www.unhcr.org/basics/BASICS/4034b6a34.pdf, accessed on 27 May 2008).
UNHCR is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, and maintains regional/country offices worldwide. Its staff currently numbers around 6,300 people working in more than 110 countries (UNHCR Website, http://www.unhcr.org/basics.html, accessed on 27 May 2008).
Target group:
People of concern; state parties to the Geneva Refugee Convention, policy makers and refugee status determination authorities in host countries of refugees, legal advisers of refugees, civil society, local and international media and the humanitarian community (Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information: A Training Manual, 2004 (updated April 2006), Annex, p. 22, http://www.coi-training.net/content/doc/en-COI%20Manual%20Part%20I%20plus%20Annex%2020060426.pdf, accessed on 28 May 2008).
Objective:
“UNHCR works to monitor and inform on the situation of asylum seekers and refugees worldwide and to advocate for their rights with governments and civil society. It seeks to inform refugee status determining authorities about the situation in countries of origin” and provides a number of products (country/situation specific position papers, country briefing folders, background papers, WRITENET reports) which are made available on the UNHCR online database RefWorld (Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information: A Training Manual, 2004 (updated April 2006), Annex, p. 22, http://www.coi-training.net/content/doc/en-COI%20Manual%20Part%20I%20plus%20Annex%2020060426.pdf, accessed on 28 May 2008).
Funding:
UNHCR “receives a limited subsidy of just over three percent of its funding from the United Nations regular budget for administrative costs”. “UNHCR depends almost exclusively on voluntary contributions” from governments and intergovernmental organisations (European Commission), NGOs, foundations and private donors (UNHCR Global Report 2006, p. 9, http://www.unhcr.org/publ/PUBL/4666d2410.pdf, accessed on 28 May 2008).
Scope of reporting:
Geographic focus: All countries worldwide.
Thematic focus: UNHCR’s primary scope of reporting “lies in monitoring and reporting on the protection of refugees in their host countries, not in reporting on human rights violations in countries of origin. However, the provision of country of origin information to UNHCR and government eligibility officers deciding on claims for refugee status is part of UNHCR’s mission to ensure that bona fide refugees are recognized as such. Reports on countries of origin are thus produced in accordance with information needs of major host countries and UNHCR eligibility officers” (Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information: A Training Manual, 2004 (updated April 2006), Annex, p. 23, http://www.coi-training.net/content/doc/en-COI%20Manual%20Part%20I%20plus%20Annex%2020060426.pdf, accessed on 29 May 2008).
Reporting methodology:
Country/Situation Specific Position Papers and Eligibility Guidelines: UNHCR publishes position papers on major countries of origin. These papers also contain background information, assessments of the security situation as well as considerations on complementary protection. Where necessary, UNHCR “responds to individual queries from governments and lawyers as to the need for protection of particular groups. These papers are based on information made available by UNHCR field offices. Eligibility guidelines are produced for use by UNHCR eligibility officers” (Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information: A Training Manual, 2004 (updated April 2006), Annex, p. 23, http://www.coi-training.net/content/doc/en-COI%20Manual%20Part%20I%20plus%20Annex%2020060426.pdf, accessed on 29 May 2008).
Country Reports: UNHCR Background Papers are “prepared in the Country Research and Analysis Unit of UNHCR's Centre for Documentation and Research on the basis of publicly available information, analysis and comment” in collaboration with Regional Bureaus and the UNHCR Statistical Unit. All sources are cited. Background Papers include a brief historical overview, information on major political development of recent years and a section on the country’s human rights situation featuring the international legal framework, general respect for human rights, situation of specific groups (see recent UNHCR Background Papers available at http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=publisher&skip=0&type=COUNTRYREP&publisher=UNHCR, accessed on 29 May 2008). “Reports undergo a strict clearing procedure with multiple readings by staff with diverse areas of expertise. Diplomatic considerations and concern for the security of UNHCR staff may play a role in selection of countries publicly reported on” (Austrian Red Cross/ACCORD: Researching Country of Origin Information: A Training Manual, 2004 (updated April 2006), Annex, p. 23, http://www.coi-training.net/content/doc/en-COI%20Manual%20Part%20I%20plus%20Annex%2020060426.pdf, accessed on 29 May 2008). Other relevant country reports published by UNHCR include Country of Origin Reports/Compilations (currently available for Afghanistan and Iraq) and reports on specific regions (within a country) or groups of refugees/asylum seekers/IDPs.
UNHCR Country Briefing Folders (as of May 2008 available for Afghanistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Eritrea, Iraq, and Somalia): “UNHCR's Status Determination and Protection Information Section (SDPIS) produces Country Briefing Folders on the top countries of origin.” Country Briefing Folders are a collection of links to documents on other websites (reports/documents from media, human rights organisations, UN, government agencies). The Country Briefing Folders contain general background information, information relating to the legal context of the country, human rights, international protection considerations regarding particular groups, and additional information. “SDPIS plans to update the Country Briefing Folders regularly.” (See comments on each of the Country Briefing Folders, for example http://www.unhcr.org/cgi-bin/texis/vtx/refworld/rwmain?page=publisher&docid=47da48e32&skip=&publisher=UNHCR&type=COUNTRYBRIEF, accessed on 29 May 2008)
Publication cycle:
Country Briefing Folders are regularly updated; Position Papers, country reports, Background Papers, WRITENET reports do not have a fixed publication cycle.
Languages:
English. Some papers are published in (or translated to) French, Spanish or German.
Navigation of website:
The item Publishers on the menu bar on the left side gives access to a list of publishers. By selecting UN High Commissioner for Refugees from the list, a list of documents/reports produced and published by UNHCR will appear. Then document categories such as Country Briefing Folders, Country Reports, or Country/Situation Specific Position Papers may be selected. Each of the categories is searchable by country.
WRITENET reports are accessible by selecting WRITENET from the list of publishers. The list of WRITENET country reports is also searchable by country.
To browse Refworld for other publishers’ documents, either choose Advanced Search on the left hand side navigation bar, or navigate to a specific country (also on the navigation bar) and then browse through the different categories, publishers or document types.
Additional references:
Gil Loescher, Alexander Betts and James Milner: UNHCR: The Politics and Practice of Refugee Protection into the Twenty-First Century, Routledge, 2008
Gil Loescher: The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path, Oxford University Press, 2002
