Privacy Notice

UNHCR World Refugee Day Campaign “Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety.”

UNHCR is an international organization of the United Nations. It is committed to protecting individual privacy and securing the personal information made available by users of UNHCR websites and applications as well as UNHCR web pages on other sites (such as official UNHCR profiles on social networks) including sites made available by our suppliers for fundraising campaigns.

As part of the UNHCR World Refugee Day campaign “Whoever. Wherever. Whenever. Everyone has the right to seek safety” (the “Campaign”), individual users are invited to upload a photo to a branded frame that represents a specific action in support of the Campaign, and spread awareness of the Campaign, including across social media networks.

By sharing your photos and other personal information through unhcr.cheerity.com you are accepting the provisions set out in this policy.

As an individual user, you acknowledge and agree that UNHCR, for purposes of the Campaign, uses a third-party provider platform for individual users to upload their photos or actions in support of the Campaign, and that their participation in this respect, is governed solely and exclusively by the terms of use and privacy policy of such third-party provider.

 The use of such third-party platform is at the individual users’ sole risk. Under no circumstances, including, but not limited to, negligence, shall UNHCR for any direct, indirect, incidental, special or consequential damages, even if UNHCR has been advised of the possibility of such damages.

This privacy notice describes how we collect, use and disclose your personal information, in conjunction with your access to and use of UNHCR web page for its World Refugee Day Campaign on Cheerity.com,  and how UNHCR uses and stores that information.

Through this website you may reach or be directed to other sites that relate to UNHCR, such as the sites of our national partners which are fundraising on behalf of UNHCR. All these sites have their own privacy statements which are similar to this one but may vary slightly.

What is personal information

 For the purposes of this privacy notice, “personal information” is any information that enables us to identify you, directly or indirectly, by reference to any identifiers such as your name, address, phone number, email address, identification number, location data, online identifier - or one or more other factors specific to you as an individual that would allow us to identify you.

What personal information we collect

As part of the Campaign, UNHCR is asking you to provide, along with your photo, your name and e-mail address so that we can inform you of events and share with you information relating to the Campaign and to our mandate.

 In addition, like many websites, this website uses “cookies”. Cheerity as our third-party service provider collects certain information by automated means when you visit this site, such as the IP address of the device you use to the Internet and the pages accessed. Through such cookies, we collect information on your location, or information about actions you take to support our campaign on social media platforms. Using such information, we learn how to best tailor the website to our users, and this also helps us customize our email communications with you in the attempt to make them more relevant.

How we use your personal information

You will only be contacted by UNHCR for the specific purpose to further the Campaign's goals and UNHCR mandate. We may use your information to let you know by email, telephone, SMS or post or through social media the latest news about our work for refugees and share with you how else you can help. These updates may include information on fundraising activities and appeals for donations as well as updates on our work with refugees.  You can request to have your name removed from our mailing list and to have your personal information deleted from our servers at any time (see below how to opt out).

Sharing your personal information

We do not sell or otherwise disclose personal data collected as set out above, except as described in this Privacy Notice. 

We may share your personal information:

 (i) with our agents or service providers including digital advertising agencies or social media companies that perform services on our behalf for the purpose of sending you communications on UNHCR’s activities, performing direct marketing or completing a donation transaction that you initiate These service providers are not authorized by the UNHCR to use or disclose your personal information, except as necessary to perform specific services for UNHCR. They are required to appropriately safeguard the privacy and security of your data.

(ii) with our national partners (e.g., USA for UNHCR) who help us raising money for refugees and other forcibly displaced.  

(iii) in cases where you are sharing your personal information as part of a joint activity between your employer and UNHCR, we may share your information with your employer to validate your participation in the activity.  In such cases, we will share the minimum amount of personal information required for your employer to validate the participation.

In no case will any sensitive financial information be shared. We will always keep your information safe, and we will never sell or swap your information with any other third party.

Opting out

Users who provide personal information to UNHCR for the purposes described above and opt in to receive email communication from UNHCR may receive UNHCR e-newsletter and other email updates. We occasionally also communicate via direct mail, phone and SMS. You can decide at any time to ask us to permanently delete the personal information you have shared with us and to stop processing it. Each communication sent by UNHCR includes an option to remove your address from the mailing list and you may do so out by sending an email to [email protected].

How we protect your information

UNHCR maintains appropriate technical and organizational safeguards against unauthorized processing of personal data and against accidental loss, destruction or damage

How long we keep your information

Your personal information will be kept only as long as necessary for the purposes set out in this privacy notice.

Conditions to upload your photo and other related content

When you submit content, such as your photo, to the campaign platform, you must only submit/share your own original content. If your content contains the work(s) of others (e.g., photos and any content attached to them, such as music, images etc.) you must have obtained the necessary rights or permissions to use that material.

In accordance with the terms of use of the campaign platform unhcr.cheerity.com, by submitting your content to UNHCR you: (i) represent and warrant that you are of legal age of consent in the jurisdiction of your domicile; (ii) represent and warrant that the content is original or that you hold the necessary rights to publish the content you submit and grant UNHCR the license hereunder; and (iii) agree to indemnify and hold UNHCR, its officers, agents and employees harmless from any claim or loss made by any third party due to or arising out of content you submit.

You acknowledge that such content will be treated by UNHCR as being non-proprietary and non-confidential. By sharing your photo and related content via the Campaign platform, you are granting UNHCR the irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, royalty-free, worldwide right to use, reproduce, modify and publish such material elsewhere in its websites and publications for the specific purpose of the furtherance of its mandate. Furthermore, you grant UNHCR the right to use the name that you submit in connection with such material. However you still own and can continue to use your content as you like including the ability to also allow others to use it.

UNHCR does not pay for nor does it generate any revenue from selling or licensing individual pieces of user-generated content.

If your content clearly identifies anyone else you will need to ensure that the persons concerned have consented to the content being used by UNHCR. Where your content clearly identifies children under the age of 16 you must ensure that their parent or guardian has provided their consent as set out above.

Prohibited content

UNHCR also requires that you do not submit or share any material or information:

1. That is knowingly false or misleading, defamatory, infringing, obscene, indecent, threatening or invasive of a person’s privacy or unlawful in any way;
2. Which you do not own or for which you have not obtained all necessary licenses and/or approvals as may be required by law;
3. Which is technically harmful (including, without limitation, files that contain viruses, corrupted files or any other similar software or programs that may damage the operation of another’s computer); or
4. Impersonating any person or entity, or falsely stating or otherwise misrepresenting your affiliation with anyone or any entity.
5. Deleting any author attributions, legal notices or proprietary designations or labels in any file that is uploaded;
6. Falsifying the origin or source of software or other material contained in a file that is uploaded;
7. Advertising or offering to sell any goods or services, or conducting or forwarding surveys, contests or chain letters, or downloading any file posted by another user of UNHCR websites that you know, or reasonably should know, cannot be legally distributed in such a manner.

Any inappropriate content will be rejected or removed from UNHCR Campaign’s website. If in doubt, please do not share your content with UNHCR. If you post on, or transmit to, our website any material of the type prohibited under the above paragraphs or any applicable laws and regulations, and UNHCR incurs any costs, expenses, liability or losses as a result then you agree to indemnify UNHCR for all such costs, expenses, liability or losses.

You should be aware that UNHCR is entitled to reveal your identity (or any information which it has about you) to any third party who is claiming that any of that material violates any of their rights or to any government or regulatory authority that may request UNHCR to do so.

Uploading your information to social networks

When you upload your photo or other related content to a social network or other third-party website your submission will be subject to that website’s terms of use and privacy policy. Please be aware of a website’s terms and privacy policy, which may differ from UNHCR’s, when submitting your content to it.

Notification of changes

We will revise or update this policy if our practices change, or as we develop better ways to keep you informed about them. We thus encourage you to visit this page regularly in order to keep up to date with any changes. Changes to the policy will apply from the date they are posted on the site and shall not apply retroactively.

Special status of UNHCR

UNHCR holds a special status as a UN organization and as such receives some additional safeguards within its host countries to ensure the independence and neutrality of its activities.  Consequently, in case of any claims concerning its processing of your personal information in connection with the Campaign, it has the obligation to offer alternative means to solve disputes (as detailed below under “Dispute Settlement”).  As a result of such special status, nothing in or relating to this privacy notice or this website shall be deemed a waiver of any of the privileges and immunities of UNHCR under the Convention on the Privileges and Immunities of the United Nations, customary international law, other relevant international or national legal instruments, and under domestic law.

Dispute settlement

Any and all dispute out of or relating to this privacy notice, or the breach, termination or invalidity hereof or to the use of the website, campaign platform, content provided by users or any content available therein, if it cannot be settled amicably, shall be resolved in accordance with the following procedure:

Pursuant to a notice of conciliation communicated by reasonable means by one Party to the other Party, the dispute shall be submitted to non-binding conciliation conducted in accordance with the Conciliation Rules then obtaining of the United Nations Commission on International Trade Law (“UNCITRAL”), or according to such other procedure as may be agreed between the Parties in writing. The language used in the conciliation proceedings shall be English unless otherwise agreed.

 If any such dispute has not been settled within 60 days following the date on which the notice of conciliation is provided by a Party to the other Party, the dispute shall be referred by either Party to arbitration in accordance with the UNCITRAL Arbitration Rules then in force. The arbitral tribunal shall consist of a sole arbitrator and the language of the proceedings shall be English unless otherwise agreed. The place of arbitration shall be Geneva where UNHCR has its headquarters. The arbitral proceedings shall be conducted remotely (e.g., via telephone conference or written submissions) whenever practicable.