The UNHCR and the International Protection Framework The UNCHR, a subsidiary organ of the UN General Assembly, was created in 1950 under Article 22 of the United Nations Charter to serve as the guardian of the international protection framework. While its mandate was initially intended to be short-term, the General Assembly removed this temporal limitation, deciding that the Office should continue to exist “until the refugee problem is solved”.326 The UNHCR’s function, set out in its 1950 Statute as well as in a range of other resolutions of the UN General Assembly, centers on “providing international protection”.327 Some of the activities carried out by the High Commissioner to fulfill this mandate are: promoting the passing of international conventions for the protection of refugees at a global and regional level, supervising their application and proposing amendments thereto, promoting national legislation and other measures to ensure the proper identification and appropriate standard and status of asylum seekers and refugees, ensuring the safety and well-being of refugees through national authorities, promoting the admission of Palestinian rerfugee from Syria in Zaatari refugee camp. Jordan, refugees, and ensuring that the needs of vulnerable groups August 2017 (Source: UNHCR) (especially women and children) are met.328 Furthermore, one of the main duties of the UNHCR is to promote durable solutions for the predicaments of refugees – i.e. voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement – according to the principle of voluntary repatriation (as a free and informed choice made by refugees).329 3.2. General Framework of International Protection for Refugees The international protection system established by the Refugee Convention and its 1967 Additional Protocol rests upon the idea that refugees are not just people displaced, but people without protection – a gap that the international community has the responsibility to fill. Under the Refugee Convention and its Protocol, a refugee is defined as: 326 UNGA ‘Implementing actions proposed by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees to strengthen the capacity of his office to carry out its mandate’ (2004) GAOR 58th Session Supp No. 49 UN Doc A/RES/58/153. 327 Statute of the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (adopted 14 December 1950) UNGA Res A/RES/428(V), art 1 [hereinafter UNHCR Statute] <https://www.unhcr.org/4d944e589.pdf> accessed 3 October 2022. 328 Guy Goodwin-Gill and Jane McAdam, The Refugee in International Law (Oxford University Press 2007), 426 [hereinafter Goodwin-Gill and McAdam, Refugee in International Law]. 329 UNHCR Statute (n 327), art 1; UNHCR, ‘Policy Framework and Implementation Strategy: UNHCR’s Role in Support of the Return and Reintegration of Displaced Populations’ (2008) <https://www.unhcr.org/partners/ guides/4c2203309/policy-framework-implementation-strategy-unhcrs-role-support-return-reintegration.html> accessed 3 October 2022. 72