ABSTRACT
UNHCR is the only global organization with a specific mandate to ensure the protection of refugees and to find solutions to their plight. It is, however, unable to pursue its mandate in isolation. In addition to its important relationship with states, as detailed in the previous chapter, UNHCR is structurally and operationally linked to a wide range of other actors in the international system, including other United Nations (UN) agencies, international, national and local non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and a number of other actors. Over time, UNHCR’s work has come to overlap with an increasing range of other organizations working in areas of migration, human rights, security, and development. In this way, UNHCR is simultaneously an independent actor in the international system with a specific mandate and an organization that is deeply embedded in a diverse and changing set of relationships with a growing number of other actors. While each of these actors has their own interests and priorities, UNHCR is increasingly reliant upon them for the exercise of its core mandate responsibilities. At the same time, UNHCR’s place within an increasingly complex web of organizations and regimes with related responsibilities presents the Office with new conceptual and political challenges.
