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Annual Consultations with NGOs
UNHCR has been holding annual consultations with its NGO (non-governmental organization) partners for more than a quarter-of-a-century. The gathering in Geneva has evolved from a one-day meeting where NGOs prepared for their interventions at the annual meeting of UNHCR's governing Executive Committee to three days of dialogue on a wide variety of subjects of interest to NGOs and UNHCR.
It gets bigger every year, with more than 350 representatives and some 200 organizations from around the world attending the consultations. Participants include representatives of small and large, national and international assistance and advocacy organizations (including those specialized in resettlement). Sister UN agencies also attend.
It provides an important forum for NGOs to raise issues, network and exchange views with UNHCR. Typical topics for discussion include human rights; urban refugees; the shrinking of humanitarian space; refugee law; post-primary education for teenagers and youth; internally displaced people; protection of women and children at risk; regional issues; and monitoring of refugees, asylum seekers and other migrants in detention.