In response to the large number of people displaced following World War II, the United Nations established UNHCR in 1950 with the mandate of providing protection to and seeking permanent solutions for refugees. The 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees defines a refugee as someone who, as a result of events occurring before January 1, 1951 and owing to a “well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion, is outside the country of his nationality and is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to avail himself of the protection of that country; or who, not having a nationality and being outside the country of his former habitual residence, as a result of such events, is unable or, owing to such fear, is unwilling to return to it.” The 1967 Protocol Relating to the Status of Refugees expanded the definition of refugee to include all refugees covered by the definition in the 1951 Convention with no date or geographic limitation. Over time, UNHCR’s mandate has expanded beyond providing protection and humanitarian assistance, and seeking, together with governments, durable solutions for refugees, to include asylum-seekers, stateless persons, returnees, and in certain circumstances, internally displaced persons. UNHCR has over 10,000 staff located at its headquarters in Geneva, Switzerland; Budapest, Hungary; Copenhagen, Denmark; and in field offices in more than 128 countries. UNHCR’s mandate, as established by the United Nations General Assembly, is the provision of international protection, material assistance, and durable solutions to refugees and other persons of concern. According to UNHCR, registration is a key tool for providing protection to refugees. Registration in the refugee protection context is the recording, verifying, and updating of information on asylum-seekers, refugees, and other persons of concern to UNHCR. Registration is the first step in formalizing the protection relationship between the individual seeking protection and the host government in the country of asylum, UNHCR, or both. UNHCR uses registration as a tool to assist in determining which types of assistance and protection are most appropriate. UNHCR also uses Refugee Status Determination (RSD), which it describes as the legal or administrative process by which governments or UNHCR determine whether an asylum-seeker meets the definition of a refugee under international, regional, or national law. This determination involves one or more interviews by trained government officials in the country of asylum or by trained UNHCR RSD staff. RSD and registration are distinct processes, although data recorded during the individual’s registration as an asylum-seeker may be drawn upon and confirmed during RSD. If an asylum-seeker is determined to be a refugee, his or her registration will be updated from asylum-seeker to refugee, or if there was no prior registration, the refugee will be registered as such. In the majority of its operations, UNHCR records identity data in UNHCR’s database and case management system, the Profile Global Registration System (ProGres). UNHCR promotes and provides both legal and physical protection, and also provides for basic needs including food, water, shelter, and medical care in response to refugee crises worldwide. According to UNHCR, registration is a fundamental component of UNHCR’s protection activities. For instance, during registration, the organization collects information on the numbers of refugees and their specific characteristics, such as family composition or special health needs, which assists it in determining the type of assistance that an individual refugee or families may initially require. Information on registered refugee populations is also used by the organization to help determine the amount and types of assistance that specific regions may need. Registration is described by UNHCR as an ongoing process that includes inputting refugees’ biographic and biometric information into databases and case management systems and updating it. UNHCR uses ProGres to log and maintain biographic information such as names and family information, and uses the Biometric Identity Management System (BIMS) and IrisGuard to collect and store biometric information such as iris scans and fingerprints. UNHCR reports that the number of refugees registered with the organization worldwide has grown significantly in recent years. For instance, the total number of refugees was estimated to be approximately 21.3 million by the end of 2015, approximately 1.7 million more than the total reported at the end of 2014. This number includes 4.9 million refugees from Syria, 2.7 million from Afghanistan, and 1.1 million from Somalia. See figure 1 for the number of UNHCR-registered refugees by country of origin as of December 31, 2015. In addition to providing protection and humanitarian assistance to refugees and other persons of concern, UNHCR is mandated to work with governments to provide “durable solutions” to those individuals so that they may transition out of refugee status and rebuild their lives. The three durable solutions that UNHCR facilitates include (1) voluntary repatriation to a refugee’s home country, (2) integration within the country in which they are currently located, and (3) resettlement to a third country. For instance, a refugee may decide to permanently return to his or her home country, with the support of UNHCR and that country, once the crisis that prompted his or her flight ends. Alternatively, refugees unable to safely repatriate to their home country may in certain cases, with the help of UNHCR, acquire permanent legal status with rights such as citizenship in their country of asylum, which UNHCR reports approximately 1.1 million refugees have done over the past decade. However, if neither repatriation nor local integration is available or appropriate, UNHCR may consider submitting a refugee’s case to a third country for resettlement consideration. UNHCR refers refugees for resettlement consideration to various countries, including the United States, Australia, Canada, Denmark, and the United Kingdom, among others. Refugees can be referred for resettlement consideration by UNHCR only if they meet UNHCR’s preconditions for resettlement consideration and fall under one or more of the resettlement submission categories. To assess refugees’ eligibility for resettlement referrals, UNHCR officials conduct interviews with refugees to obtain their basic biographic information, assess evidence of past or feared persecution, and determine eligibility for all other solutions that might be available to them. The organization documents this information in a resettlement referral form. While most registered refugees receive some form of protection assistance from the organization, less than 1 percent are referred for resettlement in a third country, according to UNHCR. State manages the USRAP admissions process in conjunction with DHS, and both agencies work with other government agencies, UNHCR, IOM, and various NGOs to process applications for refugees seeking resettlement to the United States. From fiscal year 2011 through June 2016, 61 percent of all refugee cases referred to the United States for resettlement consideration were referred by UNHCR, or roughly 405,000 referrals out of the 655,000 total. According to UNHCR, most of its referrals are families. UNHCR submits refugee referrals to the United States from all over the world. See table 1 for more information on the nationality of refugees referred by UNHCR for potential admission to the United States from fiscal year 2011 through June 2016. Once UNHCR refers a case to the United States for resettlement consideration, it is considered for access to USRAP. State accepts UNHCR referrals via UNHCR’s ProGres database and uploads biographic information to WRAPS, which is State’s own system that serves as a repository of application information and tracks the status of all individual refugee applications to USRAP. The resettlement application process continues at one of the nine RSCs. Through grants or voluntary contributions from State, various NGOs and IOM operate eight of the nine RSCs. RSCs are responsible for compiling eligible applications. They collect supporting documentation, biographic information such as names and addresses, and family information from each applicant. They are also responsible for prescreening USRAP applicants—that is, conducting in-person interviews with each applicant—during which staff employed by the organization that manages the RSC collect information on the applicants’ persecution story and why they claim to be unable to return home to their country of origin. RSCs then provide all of this information to USCIS officers. In addition, RSCs initiate the necessary biographic security checks for USRAP applicants, coordinate medical exams with panel physicians, and provide cultural orientation for refugees approved to travel to the United States, as well as manage the provision of interpretation services for USCIS interviews. See table 2 for more information on RSCs. As part of the resettlement application process, USCIS officers travel overseas to conduct in-person interviews of USRAP applicants and adjudicate their applications for refugee status pending the results of required security and background checks. RSCs provide interpreters to USCIS officers during the interviews, as necessary. Program integrity describes the extent to which the resettlement referral process is free from fraud, waste, and abuse by both staff and applicants. An important aspect of ensuring program integrity is designing, implementing, and evaluating the efficacy of antifraud measures. According to GAO’s Standards for Internal Control in the Federal Government, fraud, such as malfeasance conducted by staff, poses a significant risk to the integrity of a program. Accordingly, management should consider the potential for fraud when identifying, analyzing, and responding to program risks. Management responds to identified fraud risks by developing antifraud activities designed to reduce or eliminate the potential for fraud. Antifraud activities are a critical component for ensuring the integrity of a program such as USRAP. Proactive fraud risk management helps to facilitate a program’s mission and ensure that program services achieve their intended purpose.