Evaluation of Providing for Protection Assisting States with the assumption of responsibility for refugee status determination

The establishment of national procedures for refugee status determination has been a longstanding objective of UNHCR. In a context of increasing individual applications for refugee protection, including under UNHCR’s mandate, the objective has received renewed attention. In his 2013 statement to the Executive Committee the Director of UNHCR’s Division of International Protection made a strong plea to Member States to work with UNHCR towards further progress in this area.

Against this background, PDES embarked as part of its work plan on a global review of UNHCR’s recent policy and practice in situations of transition to national RSD procedures. The aim is to facilitate the formulation of strategies, policies and tools for the benefit of UNHCR’s operations as currently considered by DIP. It was decided to split the project in two phases, starting with a preliminary review to prepare for further research on selected aspects in a more comprehensive second phase.