Statute
Statute
Statute
u n i t e d n at i o n s
high commissioner
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UNHCR
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with an
Introductory Note
by the Office of the
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees
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INTRODUCTORY NOTE
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Under its terms of reference, the Executive Committee, inter alia, reviews and
approves the material assistance programme of the High Commissioners office
and advises the High Commissioner at his or her request on the exercise of his
or her functions under the Statute. The Executive Committee was originally
composed of 24 states. By August 2007, membership had expanded to 72 states,
comprising Algeria, Argentina, Australia, Austria, Bangladesh, Belgium,
Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cte dIvoire, Cyprus,
Democratic Republic of the Congo, Denmark, Ecuador, Egypt, Estonia,
Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Ghana, Greece, Guinea, Holy See,
Hungary, India, Islamic Republic of Iran, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Jordan,
Kenya, Lebanon, Lesotho, Madagascar, Mexico, Morocco, Mozambique,
Namibia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Norway, Pakistan,
Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Republic of Korea, Romania, Russian
Federation, Serbia, Somalia, South Africa, Spain, Sudan, Sweden, Switzerland,
Thailand, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, United Kingdom, United Republic of
Tanzania, United States of America, Venezuela, Yemen and Zambia.
The first United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was Gerrit J.
van Heuven Goedhart from the Netherlands (1951-1956). He was succeeded
by Auguste R. Lindt from Switzerland (1957-1960); Felix Schnyder from
Switzerland (1961-1965); Sadruddin Aga Khan from Iran (1966-1977); Poul
Hartling from Denmark (1978-1985); Jean-Pierre Hock from Switzerland
(1986-1989); Thorvald Stoltenberg from Norway ( Jan. 1990-Nov. 1990);
Sadako Ogata from Japan (1991-2000); Ruud Lubbers from the Netherlands
(2001-2005); and Antnio Guterres from Portugal (2005~).
UNHCRs headquarters are located in Geneva, Switzerland. The High
Commissioner has appointed representatives and correspondents in some 116
countries throughout the world.
Geneva, August 2007
(3) General Assembly Resolution 1166 (XII) of 26 November 1957 and Economic and Social
Council Resolution 672 (XXV) of 30 April 1958.
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428 ( V )
of 14 December 1950
destitute categories;
( d ) Assisting the High Commissioner in his efforts to promote the volun-
naturalization;
( f ) Providing refugees with travel and other documents such as would
normally be provided to other aliens by their national authorities, especially documents which would facilitate their resettlement;
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ing the number and condition of refugees, and laws and regulations
concerning them.
3. Requests the Secretary-General to transmit the present resolution,
together with the annex attached thereto, also to States non-members of the
United Nations, with a view to obtaining their co-operation in its implementation.
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ANNEX
CHAPTER I
General Provisions
1. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, acting under
the authority of the General Assembly, shall assume the function of providing international protection, under the auspices of the United Nations, to
refugees who fall within the scope of the present Statute and of seeking permanent solutions for the problem of refugees by assisting Governments and,
subject to the approval of the Governments concerned, private organizations
to facilitate the voluntary repatriation of such refugees, or their assimilation
within new national communities.
In the exercise of his functions, more particularly when difficulties arise, and
for instance with regard to any controversy concerning the international status of these persons, the High Commissioner shall request the opinion of the
advisory committee on refugees if it is created.
2 . The work of the High Commissioner shall be of an entirely non-political
character; it shall be humanitarian and social and shall relate, as a rule, to
groups and categories of refugees.
3 . The High Commissioner shall follow policy directives given him by the
General Assembly or the Economic and Social Council.
4 . The Economic and Social Council may decide, after hearing the views
of the High Commissioner on the subject, to establish an advisory committee on refugees, which shall consist of representatives of States Members and
States non-members of the United Nations, to be selected by the Council on
the basis of their demonstrated interest in and devotion to the solution of the
refugee problem.
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5. The General Assembly shall review, not later than at its eighth regular
session, the arrangements for the Office of the High Commissioner with
a view to determining whether the Office should be continued beyond 31
December 1953.
CHAPTER II
Functions of the High Commissioner
6 . The competence of the High Commissioner shall extend to:
A. ( i) Any person who has been considered a refugee under the Arrangements of 12 May 1926 and of 30 June 1928 or under the Conventions of
28 October 1933 and 10 February 1938, the Protocol of 14 September
1939 or the Constitution of the International Refugee Organization.
( ii) Any person who, as a result of events occurring before 1 Janu-
ary 1951 and owing to well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality or political opinion, is outside the
country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear or for
reasons other than personal convenience, is unwilling to avail himself
of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and
being outside the country of his former habitual residence, is unable
or, owing to such fear or for reasons other than personal convenience,
is unwilling to return to it.
Decisions as to eligibility taken by the International Refugee Organization during the period of its activities shall not prevent the status of
refugee being accorded to persons who fulfil the conditions of the
present paragraph;
The competence of the High Commissioner shall cease to apply to
any person defined in section A above if:
( a ) He has voluntarily re-availed himself of the protection of the
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the circumstances in connexion with which he has been recognized as a refugee have ceased to exist and he is able to return to
the country of his former habitual residence, claim grounds other
than those of personal convenience for continuing to refuse to
return to that country;
B. Any other person who is outside the country of his nationality, or if
he has no nationality, the country of his former habitual residence,
because he has or had well-founded fear of persecution by reason of
his race, religion, nationality or political opinion and is unable or,
because of such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection
of the government of the country of his nationality, or, if he has no
nationality, to return to the country of his former habitual residence.
7. Provided that the competence of the High Commissioner as defined in
paragraph 6 above shall not extend to a person:
( a ) Who is a national of more than one country unless he satisfies the pro-
he has taken residence as having the rights and obligations which are
attached to the possession of the nationality of that country; or
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for the protection of refugees, supervising their application and proposing amendments thereto;
( b ) Promoting through special agreements with Governments the execu-
organizations concerned;
( h ) Establishing contact in such manner as he may think best with private
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CHAPTER III
Organization and finances
13 . The High Commissioner shall be elected by the General Assembly on the
nomination of the Secretary-General. The terms of appointment of the High
Commissioner shall be proposed by the Secretary-General and approved by
the General Assembly. The High Commissioner shall be elected for a term of
three years, from 1 January 1951.
14. The High Commissioner shall appoint, for the same term, a Deputy High
Commissioner of a nationality other than his own.
15. ( a ) Within the limits of the budgetary appropriations provided, the staff
of the Office of the High Commissioner shall be appointed by the
High Commissioner and shall be responsible to him in the exercise of
their functions.
( b ) Such staff shall be chosen from persons devoted to the purposes of the
without compensation.
16 . The High Commissioner shall consult the Government of the countries
of residence of refugees as to the need for appointing representatives therein.
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In any country recognizing such need, there may be appointed a representative approved by the Government of that country. Subject to the foregoing,
the same representative may serve in more than one country.
17. The High Commissioner and the Secretary-General shall make appropriate arrangements for liaison and consultation on matters of mutual
interest.
18. The Secretary-General shall provide the High Commissioner with all
necessary facilities within budgetary limitations.
19. The Office of the High Commissioner shall be located in Geneva,
Switzerland.
20 . The Office of the High Commissioner shall be financed under the budget
of the United Nations. Unless the General Assembly subsequently decides
otherwise, no expenditure other than administrative expenditures relating
to the functioning of the Office of the High Commissioner shall be borne on
the budget of the United Nations and all other expenditures relating to the
activities of the High Commissioner shall be financed by voluntary contributions.
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21. The administration of the Office of the High Commissioner shall be subject to the Financial Regulations of the United Nations and to the financial
rules promulgated thereunder by the Secretary-General.
s tat u t e
of the office of the
u n i t e d n at i o n s
high commissioner
P UBLISHED
BY :
UNHCR
Media Relations
and Public
Information Service
P.O. Box 2500
1211 Geneva 2
Switzerland
www.unhcr.org
For information
and inquiries,
please contact:
Media Relations
and Public
Information Service
hqpi00@unhcr.org
for refugees