But as refugee crises mushroomed around the globe, its mandate was extended every five years. During its half century of work, the agency provided assistance to at least 50 million people, earning two Nobel Peace Prizes in 1954 and 1981. A second working group or Standing Committee meets several times a year. The High Commissioner reports on the results of the agency s work annually to the U.N. General Assembly through the Economic and Social Council. Refugees are legally defined as people who are outside their countries because of a well-founded fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, political opinion or membership in a particular social group, and who cannot or do not want to return home.
International protection is the cornerstone of the agency s work.
In practice that means ensuring respect for a refugee s basic human rights and ensuring that no person will be returned involuntarily to a country where he or she has reason to fear persecution a process known as refoulement . Its staff work in a variety of locations ranging from capital cities to remote camps and border areas, attempting to provide the above mentioned protection and to minimize the threat of violence, including sexual assault, which many refugees are subject to, even in countries of asylum. The organization seeks long-term or durable solutions by helping refugees repatriate to their homeland if conditions warrant, by helping them to integrate in their countries of asylum or to resettle in third countries. In the intervening decades the problem of displaced people became both more complex and took on a global dimension. The term refugee is a very specific definition covering only people who have fled their homeland and sought sanctuary in a second country.