Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees

A/RES/52/103View PDF

Who adopted this document and its mandates?

A Resolution of the General Assembly, under agenda item 107 Report of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, questions relating to refugees and displaced persons and humanitarian questions, published in 1998.

What else is in this group?

42 documents · 1987–2025

Newer documents in this group exist (latest: 2025).

Year	Symbol	Title	Word length	Text similarity
2025	A/RES/80/187	Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees	6,895	–
2024	A/RES/79/156	Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees	6,823	–
2023	A/RES/78/184	Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees	6,064	–
2022	A/RES/77/198	Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees	6,053	–
2022	A/RES/76/143	Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees	5,375	–

This group bundles related documents that are not individually ordered.

What subjects does this mandate have?

8 subjects

Child Refugees Refugee Assistance Refugee Camps Refugee Protection Repatriation Staff Security Territorial Asylum Women Refugees

What’s in this document?

17 operative paragraphs

Endorses the report of the Executive Committee of the Programme of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees on the work of its forty-eighth session;2

Strongly reaffirms the fundamental importance and the purely humanitarian and non-political character of the function of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees of providing international protection to refugees and seeking permanent solutions to the problem of refugees;

Deplores the immense human suffering and loss of life that have accompanied refugee flows and other forced displacements, in particular the numerous serious threats to the security or well-being of refugees, such as refoulement, unlawful expulsion, physical attacks and detention under unacceptable conditions, and calls upon States to take all measures necessary to ensure respect for the principles of refugee protection, including the humane treatment of asylum-seekers in accordance with internationally recognized human rights and humanitarian norms;

Emphasizes that refugee protection is primarily the responsibility of States, whose full and effective cooperation, action and political resolve are required to enable the Office of the High Commissioner to fulfil its mandated functions;

Reaffirms that everyone is entitled to the right to seek and enjoy in other countries asylum from persecution, and, as asylum is an indispensable instrument for the international protection of refugees, calls on all States to refrain from taking measures that jeopardize the institution of asylum, in particular by returning or expelling refugees or asylum-seekers contrary to international human rights and to humanitarian and refugee law;

Stresses the importance of international solidarity and burden-sharing in reinforcing the international protection of refugees, and urges all States and relevant non-governmental and other organizations, in conjunction with the Office of the High Commissioner, to cooperate in efforts to lighten the burden borne by States that have received large numbers of asylum-seekers and refugees;

Condemns all acts that pose a threat to the personal security of refugees and asylum-seekers, and calls upon States of refuge, in cooperation with international organizations where appropriate, to take all necessary measures to ensure that the civilian and humanitarian character of refugee camps and settlements is maintained, as well as to abstain from any activity likely to undermine this, inter alia, through effective measures to prevent the infiltration of armed elements, the identification and separation of any such armed elements from refugee populations, the settlement of refugees in secure locations and by affording to the Office of the High Commissioner and other appropriate humanitarian organizations prompt, unhindered and safe access to them;

Calls upon States and all concerned parties to refrain from any actions that prevent the staff of the Office of the High Commissioner and other humanitarian personnel from performing the functions required under their mandates or obstruct them in so doing, to take all possible measures to safeguard their physical security and property, to investigate fully any crime committed against them, to bring to justice persons responsible for such crimes and to facilitate the discharge of the mandated functions of the Office of the High Commissioner as well as of other humanitarian organizations;

Urges all States and relevant organizations to support the High Commissioner's search for durable solutions to refugee problems, including voluntary repatriation, integration in the country of asylum and resettlement in a third country, as appropriate, and welcomes in particular the ongoing efforts of her Office to pursue, wherever possible, opportunities to promote conditions conducive to the preferred solution of voluntary repatriation;

Acknowledges the desirability of comprehensive approaches by the international community to the problems of refugees and displaced persons, including addressing root causes, strengthening emergency preparedness and response, providing effective protection and achieving durable solutions;

Recognizes the value of comprehensive regional approaches in which the High Commissioner has played a significant part in both countries of origin and countries of asylum, and encourages States, in coordination and cooperation with each other and with international organizations, if applicable, to consider adopting protection-based comprehensive and regional approaches that conform fully with universally recognized standards and respond to particular regional initiatives, circumstances and protection needs;

Reaffirms that voluntary repatriation is the ideal solution to refugee problems, and calls upon countries of origin, countries of asylum, the Office of the High Commissioner and the international community as a whole to do everything possible to enable refugees to exercise their right to return home in safety and with dignity;

Reiterates the right of all persons to return to their country, and emphasizes in this regard the prime responsibility of countries of origin for establishing conditions that allow voluntary repatriation of refugees in safety and with dignity, and, in recognition of the obligation of all States to accept the return of their nationals, calls upon all States to facilitate the return of their nationals who have sought asylum and have been determined not to be refugees;

Calls upon all States to promote conditions conducive to the return of refugees and to support their sustainable reintegration by providing countries of origin with necessary rehabilitation and development assistance in conjunction, as appropriate, with the Office of the High Commissioner and relevant development agencies, urges the Office of the High Commissioner, within its mandate and at the request of the Government concerned and in view of the relationship between safeguarding human rights and preventing conditions that give rise to refugee outflows, to strengthen its support of national efforts at legal and judicial capacity-building, where necessary, in cooperation with the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, and, in view of creating conditions furthering reconciliation and long-term development in countries of return, also urges the Office of the High Commissioner to strengthen its cooperation and coordination with relevant development agencies;

Calls upon States to adopt an approach that is sensitive to gender-related concerns and to ensure that women whose claims to refugee status are based upon a well-founded fear of persecution for reasons enumerated in the 1951 Convention3 and the 1967 Protocol4 relating to the Status of Refugees, including persecution through sexual violence or other gender-related persecution, are recognized as refugees, and encourages the Office of the High Commissioner to continue and to strengthen its efforts for the protection of refugee women;

Urges States and relevant parties to respect and observe principles of international human rights, humanitarian and refugee law that are of particular relevance to safeguarding the rights of child and adolescent refugees, and, noting the particular vulnerability of refugee children to being forcibly exposed to the risks of injury, exploitation and death in connection with armed conflict, urges all States and concerned parties to take all possible measures to protect child and adolescent refugees, including, in particular, from all forms of violence, exploitation and abuse, and to prevent their separation from their families;

Calls upon all Governments and other donors to demonstrate their international solidarity and burden-sharing with countries of asylum through efforts aimed at continuing to alleviate the burden borne by States, in particular developing countries, countries in transition and countries with limited resources, that, due to their location, host large numbers of refugees and asylum-seekers, to contribute to the programmes of the Office of the High Commissioner and, taking into account the effects on countries of asylum of the increasing requirements of large refugee populations and the need to widen the donor base and to achieve greater burden-sharing among donors, to assist the High Commissioner in securing additional and timely income from traditional governmental sources, other Governments and the private sector in order to ensure that the needs of refugees, returnees and displaced persons of concern to the Office of the High Commissioner are fully met.

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