The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. In more than six decades, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, the agency works actively in over 125 countries and continues to help over 33.9 million people. UNHCR focuses a large portion of its resources on Africa since the number of people displaced by regional conflicts rises every year.

AGENDA ITEMS

Aiding the Somalian drought refugees

Resettling the Sudanese after the independence of South Sudan

The question of Central African refugees