Global First Responders: What UNHCR does when emergencies strike

It’s the job of UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, to be on hand and make sure they get the help and support they need.  

UNHCR has been responding to humanitarian crises since its creation nearly 75 years ago, in the aftermath of the Second World War. Last year alone, we responded to 43 emergencies, including 26 new ones. With teams in more than 130 countries and stockpiles of emergency aid strategically located in warehouses around the world, we can mobilize trained staff and supplies for 1 million people within 72 hours of an emergency unfolding.

How do we stay prepared?

Responding at such scale and speed relies on meticulous preparation. Our offices worldwide constantly monitor developments such as political unrest, conflict and the threat of extreme weather and natural hazards to assess the risk that large numbers of people will be forced to flee and need help. Where that risk exists, we work with governments and other partners to develop contingency plans and to strengthen their ability to respond to an emergency.

We keep our warehouses stocked with essential items such as tents, blankets and sleeping mats. As well as global warehouses in Cameroon, Denmark, Ghana, Kenya, Panama, the United Arab Emirates and Uzbekistan, we also position supplies close to high-risk areas. We did this in Lebanon in 2024 ahead of the escalation in Israeli airstrikes, and in Ukraine and its neighbours before the start of the full-scale Russian invasion in 2022.

When feasible, we make sure arrangements are in place to quickly distribute cash assistance if a crisis takes place. We help communities at risk of being forced to flee prepare for the worst by keeping them informed and ensure services such as protection, shelter, health and education are available in the areas likely to receive them.

In addition, we have a pool of highly trained staff, the Emergency Roster Team (ERT), who are ready to drop everything and deploy to anywhere in the world within 72 hours. They reinforce our global workforce – 91 per cent of whom are already based in field locations – with expertise in areas such as camp management, health care and logistics. ERT staff receive additional training in first aid, responding to security threats, and how to work in complex and challenging environments.  

“The training prepares you emotionally and psychologically for highly stressful situations,” says Vivien Nieme, an ERT member who heads a UNHCR field office in northern Costa Rica.  

Nieme had been following developments in Lebanon last October when she got the call that she was being sent there to coordinate the protection response. “I was glad that I could do something, but I had to manage my family’s feelings,” she recalls. “I told my mum I was going to a fully safe place – but inside I knew there was no fully safe place.”

How do we respond when an emergency strikes?

Ensuring access to safety

The priority at the outset is making sure people can reach a place of safety. “It begins with protection – making sure that communities, while fleeing a territory, have safe passage to cross into another country and have access to asylum,” explains UNHCR Emergency Officer Simon Girmaw.

When significant numbers of people start fleeing across a border, our staff head out to make sure they can cross safely, to find out more about the situation they are fleeing from, and to learn of any dangers they experienced along the way. When necessary, we ask governments to admit refugees and not return them to a country where their lives would be at risk, or where we think they might be tortured or abused.

Delivering life-saving assistance

The next step is often to set up a temporary transit centre where we can respond to urgent needs for food, water, hygiene, basic medical care and shelter.  

We quickly provide families with kits containing survival items such as blankets to stay warm, tents or tarpaulins to protect them from the elements, and jerry cans to store clean water.    

We also register and document new arrivals – something that sounds procedural, but which is vital to getting them further support in the weeks and months ahead, and for preventing fraud and supporting border management. As they do this, our staff look out for individuals in need of specialized care, such as a child separated from their parents, a heavily pregnant woman or a torture survivor. They then refer them for medical treatment, counselling, legal assistance or whatever extra help they need.

“The first thing you need to do is collect information,” notes Nieme. “You share that information with partners so we can say, ‘these are the life-saving needs we need to focus on’.”

Finding a temporary home

As soon as possible, we help move refugees to secure locations away from the border where they can find more services and longer-term shelter. We work with authorities to house refugees in cities, towns and villages where they can lead a more normal life.  

Rather than building from scratch, we work with governments and development partners to expand and repair existing infrastructure, such as schools, clinics, roads and water systems. This benefits local communities and economies and makes it easier for refugees to access services, find work or start their own businesses.

Most refugees (around 78 per cent) move to towns and cities, but when this is not possible, we help to design camps or settlements with durable shelters that can withstand extreme weather, and where refugees can find clean water, toilets, health facilities and opportunities to earn a living.  

Working with partners  

Collaborating with a wide range of partners is vital. We bring together national and local authorities, other UN agencies, international and local NGOs and refugee-led organizations and work together to identify needs and set priorities.  

Girmaw describes UNHCR as “a catalyst to ensure that those who need to be around the table when it comes to responding to emergencies are there.”

While we lead the overall response for refugees, other organizations take the lead in specific areas based on their expertise. For example, the World Food Programme is our main partner in providing refugees with food, while we often work with UNICEF on child protection and education for refugees. 

Mobilizing funding

Although we receive generous funding from individuals, businesses and philanthropists, voluntary donations from governments fund most of our work. Much of that funding is designated for specific uses while we rely on flexible donations without restrictions to fund our work when new emergencies strike. This allows us to transfer funds directly to our local teams so they can set up shelters, deliver aid, and register people who need our help.  

We are constantly looking for ways to make that money go further. For example, we are expanding our use of local suppliers for relief items to save on transport costs, and we use biometric iris or fingerprint scans when registering refugees to ensure that aid is delivered only to those who need it, and to reduce fraud.

If we don’t have the funds to respond to an emergency, the consequences are stark, says Nieme, the protection officer deployed to Lebanon. “A lack of resources means you can save fewer lives,” she says. “It means no [warm] clothes for children, it means people without shelter, in the open, in 5°C … every time we don’t have enough resources, it translates to people who are not going to make it.”  

If there is no help available, people who have fled once may have no choice but to keep moving, says Girmaw.  “Then we are really expanding the crisis to more territories … there will be a ripple effect.”  

Millions of refugees and displaced people worldwide risk losing access to life-saving aid due to brutal cuts in global humanitarian funding. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, has the expertise, experience and determination to keep protecting people forced to flee, but we urgently need donors – individuals, businesses and governments – to step up. Please donate today to help us reach the most vulnerable. Lives depend on it.