UNHCR’s 70th anniversary is no cause for celebration
On 14 December, the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees will be 70 years old. For an organization that should have ceased to exist after three years, it is an uncomfortable birthday that we are not in the mood to celebrate. As a shattered world...
How climate change is multiplying risks for displacement
Global heating is compounding threats for people already living with conflict and insecurity, further driving displacement around the world.
UN General Assembly extends mandate for High Commissioner Grandi
The United Nations General Assembly today renewed the mandate of Filippo Grandi as United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees for a further two-and-a-half-year-period.
75 Years of the United Nations – and UNHCR being more important than ever
On 24 October 2020, the United Nations celebrates its 75th anniversary.
Colombian child rights defender wins UNHCR’s Nansen Refugee Award
This year’s laureate of the Nansen Refugee Award – a humanitarian prize given annually by UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency – is an educator who has spent more than 20 years rescuing sexually exploited and trafficked children, many of them refugees. Mayerlín Vergara Pérez, Maye, has dedicated her life to […]
UN agencies hail milestone as over 1000 asylum seekers relocated from Greece so far this year through EU initiative
Joint IOM/UNHCR/UNICEF Press Release
UNHCR: alleviating suffering and overcrowding in Greek islands’ reception centres must be part of the emergency response
UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is calling for urgent action to improve conditions and ensure humane solutions for asylum seekers in reception centres in the Aegean islands, including in the new emergency site on Lesvos. In the aftermath of the series of blazes that devastated the Moria Reception and Identification […]
UNHCR and IOM call for a truly common and principled approach to European migration and asylum policies
On the eve of the launch of the presentation of the European Commission’s new Pact on Migration and Asylum, UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, and IOM, the International Organization for Migration, are appealing to the European Union (EU) to ensure a truly joint and principled approach that addresses all aspects […]
UNHCR shocked by fires at Moria asylum center, ramping up support for affected asylum seekers
This is a summary of what was said by UNHCR spokesperson Shabia Mantoo – to whom quoted text may be attributed – at today’s press briefing at the Palais des Nations in Geneva. UNHCR, the UN Refugee Agency, is shocked and saddened at events on Lesvos island this week where […]