The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established in 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. UNHCR is charged with coordinating international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. UNCHR's work is carried out in accordance with the goals in the 1951 United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol. UNHCR safeguards the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that all refugees can find safe haven in a refuge State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally into the refuge State, or to resettle in a third country. A refugee is a person who, owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group, or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality, and is unable to or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country.

UNCHR is a program of the United Nations that falls under the oversight of the U.N.'s Economic and Social Council. UNCHR is based in Geneva, Switzerland, although its staff numbers in the thousands and UNCHR employees are based in over 100 countries. UNCHR headquarters is broken down into five divisions: the Executive Office, the Department of Internal Protection, the Department of Operations, the Division of External Relations, and the Division of Resource Management. UNHCR is funded almost entirely with donations from governments around the world.

UNHCR's Executive Committee (ExCom) formulates the organization's policy and sets forth programs for the upcoming year. ExCom was originally made up of representatives from 24 countries. It is now formed by representatives from several dozen countries, including the United States, who meet annually. In addition, many countries who do not participate with official representatives still send officials to attend the ExCom meetings. Intergovernmental organizations, non-governmental organizations, and delegates from other United Nations programs often attend ExCom meetings as well. ExCom makes its decisions by consensus instead of formal voting procedures.

In between annual ExCom meetings, a Standing Committee reviews UNCHR activities to ensure that programs are on track. The Standing Committee meets four times each year. The decisions it makes are not binding, but ExCom usually affirms them in its annual meeting.

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