Attachments
The High Commissioner for Refugees is mandated by the United Nations to lead and coordinate international action for the worldwide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. In its efforts to achieve this objective, the Office 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 permanently in another country, UNHCR also seeks lasting solutions to their plight.
UNHCR’s Executive Committee and the UN General Assembly have authorized involvement with other groups. These include former refugees who have returned to their homeland, internally displaced people, and persons who are stateless or whose nationality is disputed. The Office 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 all of its activities, it pays particular attention to the needs of children and seeks to promote the equal rights of women and girls.
The Office carries out its work in collaboration with many partners, including governments, regional organizations, and international and non-governmental organizations. It is committed to the principle of participation, believing that refugees and others who benefit from the Office’s activities should be consulted over decisions which affect their lives.
High Commissioner’s foreword
This Global Appeal aims to tell you what we foresee in 2024 and what we plan to do, and how you can help us to help millions of forcibly displaced and stateless people.
When people are forced to flee from their homes through no fault of their own, they should be able to continue living in dignity and safety in a new place, and to go home as soon as it is safe to do so.
However, the system is under pressure like never before. 2023 has brought a devastating new conflict in Sudan, continued misery in Ukraine, a string of coups in the Sahel region, more violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, displacement in Myanmar, and a renewed conflict in Gaza that has raised risks across the region.
Regrettably, more emergencies cannot be ruled out in 2024, and UNHCR will respond rapidly with life-saving assistance and protection for those who are displaced. It means more than giving them help, but also working to empower them to make their own decisions and enable them to contribute to their societies. To this end, we will also work to further the trend towards inclusion of refugees, along with greater international support for host countries. It also means working to ensure refugees have access to education and avenues to employment, and we will continue to step up efforts to find solutions to their plight. This takes cooperation and we are encouraged by the launch of a new solutions platform for the displacement caused by violence in the Central African Republic, and a new Global Alliance to End Statelessness, amongst other critical initiatives.
We are also encouraged by the increasing involvement of development actors, who have brought a vast amount of new funding to support States hosting refugees. The growing interest in connections between forced displacement and the climate crisis has also been critical to strengthen resilience and to find solutions for both the host communities and those displaced and living in climate-vulnerable locations.
We are keen to keep forging links between humanitarian, development and peacebuilding work, and are working closely with many partners, especially the International Organization for Migration, to foster a “panoramic” mindset when it comes to mixed flows of refugees and migrants through the Darién jungle or the Sahara, and across the Bay of Bengal, the Mediterranean or elsewhere.
In an ideal world, many things could take a rapid turn for the better. States could stop wars and efforts could go into maximizing the dividends of peace rather than simply mitigating people’s suffering. But the reality is that forced displacement will continue and there remains a need for UNHCR and our partners.
This vital work would be impossible without the generosity of our donors, and without the solidarity of those States doing so much to host and include forcibly displaced and stateless populations. Funding is indeed generous, but not growing fast enough to keep pace with the needs, and money is increasingly being earmarked for specific causes.
The result is a widening funding gap, especially in terms of support for many of the most desperate and vulnerable people worldwide. UNHCR is prioritizing every day to make the most of the available funding, rationalizing its expenditure where possible and realigning staffing structures globally, reducing the number of posts to maintain focus on delivery.
But when UNHCR operations are underfunded, there is often nobody else to fill the gap. People fleeing from violence are exposed to a panoply of risks and dangers, as well as uncertainty about their futures. We want to help 24,000 Burundian refugees who want to go home, for example, but a lack of funds has so far made this impossible. Must they really wait, and how long does the world expect them to do so?
To fulfil our mandate, and to make the system work, we need more help. We need your help. Please read our Appeal to find out more.