Switzerland: The UNHCR relaunches Refworld
Refugee status decision makers can now avail of a new tool designed specifically as an aid to the decision making process. More than 76,000 documents online
Refugee status decision makers can now avail of a new tool designed specifically as an aid to the decision making process. The UN Refugee Agency announced on Thursday the launch of Refworld (www.refworld.org), a website that brings together more than 76,000 documents relating to the granting of refugee status. These include detailed information about individual countries and regions, international and national legal documents, policy documents and a host of reference material including NGO handbooks and UN annual reports.
"We have a website now that can be considered to be one of the best in areas linked to human rights, linked to the need to make law accessible to the general public and to all relevant actors in this field," said António Guterres, the High Commissioner for Refugees.
Refworld has collected the data that is now available on the website over the span of 15 years through UNHCR's global network of field offices, governments, international, regional and non-governmental organizations, academic institutions and judicial bodies, however until today it had only been available in CD-Rom and DVD formats. "This new Refworld has restored UNHCRs credibility in information and knowledge dissemination," said Guy Goodwin-Gill, professor of international refugee law at Oxford University.
Among Refworld?s partners are some of the most highly regarded information sources of the sector, including Amnesty International, Accord and Human Rights Watch as well as various Government agencies and the International Association of Refugee Law Judges (IARLJ).
The website is functional, user-friendly and is equipped with powerful search engines. Among the services provided, e-mail notifications are regularly sent to users with recently released papers of interest in order to increase awareness of UNHCR recommendations, guidelines and related papers.
?Refworld online reinforces UNHCRs public commitment to its protection mandate, while reconfirming UNHCRs position as the leader in refugee decision support? concluded the UNHCR in a press release today.
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