UNHCR's mandate to determine a person's refugee status, the weight States should afford to UNHCR's refugee recognitions, and the cogent reasons for disregarding UNHCR's recognition.
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), I. A. v. Secretary of State for the Home Department: Case for the Intervener, UKSC2012/0157, 27 October 2013, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2013/96925 [accessed 30 April 2026]
The principle of non-refoulement of refugees as a norm of customary international law and the duty of States to independently inquire whether a person is to be protected from refoulement; the basis, purpose and nature of UNHCR's mandate RSD procedures, including vis-à-vis the responsibility of States not parties to the 1951 Convention (see section E at paras. 72 to 88).
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR intervention before the Court of Final Appeal of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region in the case between C, KMF, BF (Applicants) and Director of Immigration, Secretary for Security (Respondents), Civil Appeals Nos. 18, 19 & 20 of 2011, 31 January 2013, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2013/90431 [accessed 30 April 2026]
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR public statement in relation to Zuheyr Freyeh Halaf v. the Bulgarian State Agency for Refugees pending before the Court of Justice of the European Union, C-528/11, August 2012, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2012/87693 [accessed 30 April 2026]
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), UNHCR intervention before the Court of Appeal of England and Wales in the case of MM (Iran) v. Secretary of State for the Home Department, C5/2009/2479, 3 August 2010, https://www.refworld.org/jurisprudence/amicus/unhcr/2010/75841 [accessed 30 April 2026]
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Agenda for Protection, Third edition, October 2003, https://www.refworld.org/policy/strategy/unhcr/2003/49707 [accessed 30 April 2026]
Walter Kälin, Supervising the 1951 Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees: Article 35 and Beyond, Cambridge University Press (CUP), June 2003, https://www.refworld.org/reference/research/cup/2003/49739 [accessed 30 April 2026]
The purpose of this paper is to describe the UNHCR’s supervisory role within the broader context of its international protection mandate, to analyse its content, and to propose for discussion possible avenues that could be developed to enhance that role.
Volker Türk, UNHCR's supervisory responsibility, Working Paper No. 67, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), October 2002, https://www.refworld.org/reference/research/unhcr/2002/86884 [accessed 30 April 2026]
UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Designing Protection Strategies and Measuring Progress: Checklist for UNHCR Staff, -, 26 July 2002, https://www.refworld.org/policy/opguidance/unhcr/2002/18812 [accessed 30 April 2026]
United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, Note on International Protection (submitted by the High Commissioner), A/AC.96/799, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 25 August 1992, https://www.refworld.org/policy/unhcrnotes/unhcr/1992/42371 [accessed 30 April 2026]
UNHCR, Report of the Working Group on Solutions and Protection to the Forty-second Session of the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner's Programme, EC/SCP/64, UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), 12 August 1991, https://www.refworld.org/reference/annualreport/unhcr/1991/41999 [accessed 30 April 2026]