Promoting Refugee Protection
© UNHCR/R. Arnold
UNHCR works with governments to improve laws and national systems so that people forced to flee can safely find help.
To supervise the implementation of international refugee and statelessness law, UNHCR monitors law, policy and practices throughout the region.
Capacity building and training activities for governments, lawyers and civil society are also used to improve and increase access to asylum procedures.
UNHCR supports countries in the region* to develop national refugee legislation, increase capacity in refugee status determination and introduce protection safeguards in immigration procedures.
UNHCR provides technical assistance in Pacific Island countries to support the development of national refugee legislation and accession to the refugee and statelessness conventions through capacity building and training activities.
The 1951 Refugee Convention
The key legal document that forms the basis of our work.
Handbook for Parliamentarians
A guide to international refugee protection and building state asylum systems.
Detention Guidelines
Guidelines on the Applicable Criteria and Standards relating to the Detention of Asylum-Seekers and Alternatives to Detention.
*UNHCR’s Regional Representation in Canberra covers Australia, the Cook Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, Fiji, Kiribati, the Marshall Islands, Nauru, New Zealand, Niue, Palau, Papua New Guinea, Samoa, the Solomon Islands, Tonga, Tuvalu and Vanuatu.