This site uses technical (necessary) and analytics cookies.
By continuing to browse, you agree to the use of cookies.

The Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (UNHCR)

The United Nations Refugee Agency was created after the Second World War to assist and facilitate the repatriation of millions of European citizens displaced as a result of the conflict. In December 1950 an Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established by the United Nations General Assembly with a three-year mandate. The Convention relating to the Status of Refugees, also known as the 1951 Refugee Convention, was adopted in Geneva on 28 July 1951 and recognized refugees’ rights to protection and legal status. The right to asylum can indeed be recognized to all individuals who have a are stateless or have a well-founded fear of being persecuted in their country of origin. In Italy, the 1951 Geneva Convention was signed on 23rd July 1954, and ratified by former President of the Republic Luigi Einaudi on 15th November 1954, following the approval of Law No. 722 of July 24th, 1954. It entered into force on 13th February 1955. Since forced displacement has become an ongoing phenomenon at the global level, in 2003 the General Assembly extended indefinitely the UNHCR mandate. Also, the category of beneficiaries has been progressively enlarged through the General Assembly resolutions including stateless persons in 1994, and internally displaced persons (IDPs) in 2006.

UNHCR has been rewarded with two Nobel Peace Prizes: in 1954, for its innovative role in European refugee assistance, and in 1981 for worldwide refugee assistance. On 1st October 2024, the President of the Republic, Sergio Mattarella, visited UNHCR headquarters during celebrations for the seventieth anniversary of Italy’s accession to the 1951 Geneva Convention. This occasion also marks the first official visit of an Italian President of the Republic to UNHCR headquarters in Geneva. Currently, over 122 million people, including refugees, IDPs, and stateless persons, benefit from UNHCR assistance. During armed conflicts, revolutions, or natural disasters, the population not only runs the risk of losing protection from their own government but often becomes the victim of the same government that was supposed to provide protection. UNHCR engages in protecting refugees’ rights in their host country in order not to oblige them to return to their country of origin, where they could become victims of persecution.

The majority of UNHCR staff is deployed in Europe, Africa, Asia and Latin America, as continent sources and hosts of the majority of refugees and IDPs. About 65% of individuals under the protection of the UNHCR, among refugees and other persons in need of international protection, are fleeing from Syria, Venezuela, Ukraine and Afghanistan. 32% of all refugees and other persons of concern under UNHCR’s mandate are hosted in just five countries: Iran, Turkey, Colombia, Germany, and Uganda. Among the UNHCR initiatives, particular relevance should be given to the one concerning Afghan refugees and IDPs in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Iran. A significant number of refugees also comes from Myanmar, reaching nearly 500.000 in the region. Another situation particularly sensitive regards the exodus of Syrians, who found refuge in Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey, and Egypt. In the region, it is possible to count 5.2 million Syrian refugees, in addition to 7.2 million IDPs.  As for the African continent, a significant number of refugees are located in Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, and DRC. In the American continent, the most delicate situation has been registered in Venezuela and on the Central American route.

In Europe, the five countries receiving the highest number of asylum requests are Germany, France, Sweden, Italy, and the United Kingdom. The number of applications has significantly increased during the last years, as a consequence of the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as the unstable contexts affecting Afghanistan, Syria, and many other countries. Following the conflict in Ukraine, 3.7 million IDPs have been registered.

The High Commissioner for Refugees since January 1st, 2016, is the Italian Filippo Grandi. His mandate will expire in December 2025.

website: www.unhcr.org