UNHCR collaborates with the Government of Iraq, the Kurdistan Regional Government, UN agencies, international and national NGOs, community-based organizations, refugees, IDPs and local communities to protect, assist and find durable solutions for refugees and IDPs.
Government Partners
UNHCR cooperates with:
The Government of Iraq
- The Ministry of Foreign Affairs – for protocol arrangements and facilitating official written communication with line ministries.
- The Ministry of Interior – to register Syrian refugees and asylum seekers and grant them residency cards. To provide civil documentation to IDPs, IDP returnees and other vulnerable Iraqis; as well as to Iraqi returnees from north-east Syria. On the Administrative Instructions for Implementing the 1971 Political Refugee Law in Federal Iraq of December 2024 and to develop a new refugee law aligned with international standards.
- The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs – to support the inclusion of refugees in social services, including in the national Social Safety Net.
- The Ministry of Migration and Displacement – to support IDP camp management.
- The Ministry of Planning – to align the refugee programme with national development plans.
- The Ministry of Education – to support access by refugee and asylum seeker children to schools.
The Kurdistan Regional Government
- The Ministry of Interior – on the implementation of Administrative Instructions on regulating the Affairs of Asylum Seekers of July 2024 and the registration and issuance of humanitarian residency permits for refugees and asylum seekers in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq.
- The Joint Crisis Coordination Center – on the coordination of operations related to forcibly displaced populations in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, including IDP and refugee camp management.
- The Ministry of Education – on support for the implementation of the Refugee Education Integration policy.
- The Ministry of Health – on refugee inclusion in the public health system.
- The Ministry of Municipalities – on the expansion of municipal services to refugee camps.
- The Ministry of Labor and Social Affairs – to increase to ability of social services to include refugees, including the national Social Safety Net.
- Department of Foreign Relations – on protocol matters.
Donors
UNHCR is grateful for the critical support provided by governmental and private sector donors who contribute to its operation in Iraq, as well as those who have contributed to UNHCR programmes with unearmarked and broadly earmarked funds.
In 2025, UNHCR requires $ 158.4 million to meet the needs of refugees, asylum-seekers and other displaced and vulnerable populations.
For more information on funding, please visit: https://reporting.unhcr.org/operational/operations/iraq
NGO Partners
In 2025, UNHCR in Iraq works with 17 partners, including four international NGOs and ten national NGOs.
As part of UNHCR’s strategy to support national and local humanitarian action, referred to as ‘localization’, and in line with Grand Bargain commitments, UNHCR Iraq has progressively decreased the number of international partners, from 11 in 2022 to 7 in 2023, 6 in 2024 and 4 in 2025 with over 50 per cent of UNHCR’s partner budget now allocated to national partners, including government counterparts and national NGOs.