Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (established December 14, 1950) protects and supports refugees at the request of a government or the United Nations and assists in their return or resettlement. UNHCR was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1954 and 1981. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country.
As of 2004, the agency has helped an estimated 50 million people restart their lives according to their website. A staff of around 5,000 people in more than 120 countries continues to help some 20 million persons.
United Nations HighCommissioner for Refugees, Office of the (UNHCR), established Jan., 1951, by the General Assembly.
It seeks permanent solutions to refugee problems, offers international protection to refugees, coordinates the activities of voluntary agencies, and assists the most needy refugee groups.
In the late 1950s the office of UNHCR aided refugees from Hungary, Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia, and Chinese refugees in Hong Kong.
Official records contain the meeting records of the UN organs (usually summary records, with the exception of the records of General Assembly and First Committee and Security Council meetings which are verbatim--"proces-verbaux"), annexes contain the text of agenda items (papers submitted to the organs for discussion), and supplements contain reports of subsidiary organs and resolutions.
UN Documentation Centre for access to documents from the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Secretariat, the ICJ, and the Trusteeship Council.
UN resolutions of the principal organs are indexed herein from 1946 to present.
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