Protecting all people forced to flee and those denied a nationality

Seeking asylum is a human right. Anyone fleeing persecution, conflict, or human rights abuses has a right to seek protection in another country.

UNHCR works to ensure that this right is upheld.

We provide life-saving support and safeguard the rights of asylum-seekers, refugees and people displaced within their own country due to conflict or persecution. We also work to protect, support and advocate for people denied a nationality and refugees who have chosen to return to their own country.

With 89.3 million people forcibly displaced from their homes globally, there are more people under our protection today than at any point since the Second World War. 

Asylum-seekers

An asylum-seeker is an individual who has fled their country of origin and applied for asylum in another country, but their claim to refugee status has not yet been processed. Not every asylum-seeker will ultimately be recognized as a refugee, but every refugee was initially an asylum-seeker.

Each year an estimated one million people seek asylum. UNHCR works to protect them, providing life-saving aid and shelter and advocating for their right to seek safety. This includes working with governments to keep borders open and ensuring asylum-seekers are not pushed back into a territory where their lives would be in danger. 

Refugees 

Refugees are people fleeing conflict, persecution and human rights abuses who have crossed a border into another country. Often when refugees arrive at a safe location they are hungry, traumatized and exhausted after a long and dangerous journey, many carrying little more than the clothes on their backs. 

UNHCR has been assisting refugees for over 70 years. We respond with life-saving support, safeguard their fundamental human rights and develop long-term solutions to ensure they find a safe place to call home where they can build a better future.

Refugees 

Refugees are people fleeing conflict, persecution and human rights abuses who have crossed a border into another country. Often when refugees arrive at a safe location they are hungry, traumatized and exhausted after a long and dangerous journey, many carrying little more than the clothes on their backs. 

UNHCR has been assisting refugees for over 70 years. We respond with life-saving support, safeguard their fundamental human rights and develop long-term solutions to ensure they find a safe place to call home where they can build a better future.

Stateless people

Millions of people around the world are denied a nationality, leaving them stateless and without critical documentation, such as a birth certificate. As a result, they often are not allowed to go to school, see a doctor, get a job, open a bank account, vote, travel, or even buy a house. Generations can become trapped in this cycle of lost opportunities and poverty.

UNHCR protects and advocates for the rights of stateless people, working with governments to change nationality laws and ensure children are registered at birth. Since 2014, UNHCR’s work has seen more than 400,000 stateless people in 27 countries acquire a nationality.