Operations

98	Number of personnel (international and national)
7	Number of offices
832,900	Estimated number of people of concern (PoC)
20.7 Mio. USD	Overall funding requirements (ExCom-approved 2016 budget)

A. Operational Environment and Strategy

Canada has demonstrated its commitment to refugees both domestically and internationally through its independent refugee status determination tribunal, its provision of resettlement places and its support for UNHCR’s work through both funding and involvement in UNHCR’s governance. The newly-elected Government will steer the asylum system in line with the results of the evaluation of the refugee reform, to be published in 2015. UNHCR stands ready to offer technical support to implement the recommendations.
 
Arrivals of children, including unaccompanied minors and those travelling with family members, in the United States of America have decreased by 40 per cent compared to 2014 but remain significant (80,000 in 2015). With continued insecurity linked to gang activity in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras, more arrivals are expected and will require adequate protection responses.
 
The Caribbean is confronted with an increasingly complex phenomenon of mixed movements that involves people who may be in need of international protection moving alongside economic migrants; and the region has become a transit point for asylum-seekers trying to reach North America. Some refugees also originate from the Caribbean region itself. Maritime incidents are recurring with the number of deaths at sea increasing every year. Moreover, maritime interception, disembarkation and return procedures are often implemented without necessary safeguards for people with protection needs.
 
UNHCR continues to work with the Government of the Dominican Republic to find solutions for several thousand individuals of foreign descent who were arbitrarily deprived of their nationality. The National Regularization Plan has offered good opportunities to long-term refugees to enhance their local integration by obtaining documentation and residency permits, providing them with a more secure status in the country. 

B. Response and Implementation

UNHCR’s focus in Canada will be on monitoring the national asylum system, especially with respect to access to territory and procedures. The Office will provide support to administrative and judicial refugee adjudication systems, including the appeal process. It will encourage the furtherance of high standards of protection in Canada, and seek to enhance resettlement opportunities. Canada takes part in UNHCR’s Global Strategy “Beyond Detention”, also implemented in Mexico and the United States. UNHCR will work with the Canadian Government in pursuing the Global Campaign to End Statelessness by 2024.
 
In the United States, UNHCR will maintain emphasis on the response to Central American refugees, with a particular focus on access by children and women to territory and asylum procedures. Alternatives to detention will be pursued, especially for refugee children, in order to mitigate and eliminate the negative impact of detention on children. UNHCR will also pursue the expansion of its detention hotline to facilities holding unaccompanied children, and develop child-friendly information materials on the asylum process and other complementary forms of protection, to be posted in facilities holding families and unaccompanied children.
 
In the Caribbean, new momentum is being sought through the establishment of a Regional Consultative Mechanism that will optimize the management of mixed movements and implement comprehensive responses within a rights-based framework, to enhance refugee protection at sea. UNHCR’s strengthened Caribbean Partners Network will enhance protection activities such as registration, needs assessments and durable solutions. UNHCR will continue to provide capacity-building and technical assistance to facilitate the gradual transfer of responsibility for refugee status determination from UNHCR to national authorities in countries such as the Bahamas, Belize, Curaçao, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
 
UNHCR’s protection strategy in the Dominican Republic and Haiti will prioritize activities responding to and preventing the expulsion of individuals with undetermined nationality during the enforcement of migration controls. UNHCR will continue providing technical and operational support to find practical solutions and ensure that those affected re-acquire their nationality.