United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

IN NEWS:

• UNHCR’s annual Global Trends report, which comes two days ahead of 20 June World Refugee Day, shows that an unprecedented 79.5 million were displaced as of the end of 2019.

ABOUT UNHCR:

• UNHCR is a program governed by the UN General Assembly, and the UN Economic and Social Council.
• UNHCR is mandated to protect refugees, forcibly displaced communities and stateless people and assist in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.
• It is headquartered at Geneva, Switzerland.

UNHCR IN INDIA:

• UNHCR in India conducts Refugee Status Determination (RSD) procedures.
• World Refugee Survey by US Committee for Refugees and Immigrants estimate the number of refugees in India at 456,000.
• Maximum number of refugees in India are from Tibet followed by Tamil Eelam, Arakan coast (Myanmar), Afghanistan and Somalia.

ADD-ONS:

• UNHCR has won two Nobel Peace Prizes (1954, 1981).
• It is a member of the United Nations Development Group.
• UNHCR presently has major missions in Lebanon, South Sudan, Chad/Darfur, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan as well as Kenya. (These countries face major refugee crisis).

PRELIMS QUESTION:

Q. Consider the following statements regarding UN High commission on refugees:

1. It publishes the Global trends on Global refugees’ report.
2. Its headquarters is in Geneva, Switzerland.

Which of the statements given above is/are correct?

1. 1 only
2. 2 only
3. Both 1 and 2
4. Neither 1 nor 2

Answer to Prelims question