Note on the Mandate of the High Commissioner for Refugees

This note sets out key aspects of the mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (hereafter the High Commissioner) and the Office of the High Commissioner (hereafter the Office), including the legal basis and sources of the mandates, its nature and character, as well as the mandate’s personal and material scope. This includes refugees, asylum-seekers, returnees, and stateless and internally displaced people