United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
Mission
The Office of the High Commissioner for refugees was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The agency is mandated to lead and coordinate 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. It also has a mandate to help stateless people. In more than six decades, the agency has helped tens of millions of people restart their lives. Today, a staff of some 7,685 people in more than 125 countries continues to help some 33.9 million people.
Disaster Reduction Goal
The agency will begin to mainstream disaster risk reduction activities in a number of targeted operations that are known to be disaster-prone. Progress on this strand will depend on donor funding. Meanwhile, UNHCR will continue to build capacity of national actors, including government entities, to prepare for and manage refugee influxes.
- UNHCR launched a Risk Management Tool on Climate Change to guide its country operations (May 2024). Almost 35 per cent of the new emergency declarations issued by UNHCR for preparedness and response in 2024 addressed the impact of weather-related hazards in displacement contexts, covering flooding in Brazil, Burundi, Cameroon, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Republic of Chad, and South Sudan, as well as the drought in Zambia.
- UNHCR enhanced engagement and collaboration with external actors and partners through joining the Early Warning for All Initiative (EW4A) as a member under Pillar 1 (Disaster risk knowledge) as well as the Risk Informed Early Action Partnership (REAP); and participated in national level initiatives on preparedness and early warning held in Bangladesh, Ecuador, Liberia, and Sudan. For instance, in partnership with the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society (BDRSC) and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), UNHCR conducted disaster preparedness and cyclone evacuation drills on the island of Bhashan Char involving refugees relocated from settlements on the mainland in Cox's Bazar.
- UNHCR initiatives reduced flood risk for vulnerable and displaced communities. For example, in Afghanistan, UNHCR constructed flood protection walls and culverts as part of a community-based response addressing community-identified priorities to reduce their vulnerability to floods. In Yemen, UNHCR implemented a Quick Impact Project (QIP) to reduce flood risk and build resilience through the construction of an 80-meter gabion wall protecting the Al-Matain IDP site in Abs-Hajjah.
- Through partnership and coverage under the African Union's African Risk Capacity (ARC) Replica Insurance Solution for drought resilience, UNHCR successfully piloted parametric insurance as an innovative financing approach that triggered payouts to support refugees and their host community's management of drought related risks in Malawi.
- In Venezuala, UNHCR in collaboration with NGO partner The International Committee for the Development of Peoples (CISP),, is finalizing the creation of community emergency committees in Táchira, Mérida, Zulia, La Guaira, and Miranda states to strengthen climate resilience in vulnerable communities.
Voluntary Commitments
The Sendai Framework Voluntary Commitments (SFVC) online platform allows stakeholders to inform the public about their work on DRR. The SFVC online platform is a useful toolto know who is doing what and where for the implementation of the Sendai Framework, which could foster potential collaboration among stakeholders. All stakeholders (private sector, civil society organizations, academia, media, local governments, etc.) working on DRR can submit their commitments and report on their progress and deliverables.
