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High Commissioner's Dialogue
Annual Focus on Protection Challenges
In 2007, UN High Commissioner for Refugees António Guterres launched the first in a series of Dialogues on Protection Challenges. This annual event in Geneva facilitates a lively and informal discussion on new or emerging global protection issues.
Over the years, the Dialogue has become an important forum to discuss protection challenges related to UNHCR's mandate and work, and identify ways to strengthen the protection of people of concern to the refugee agency.
Since the first gathering, participants in the Dialogues have addressed protracted refugee situations; durable solutions and international migration; challenges for people of concern to UNHCR in urban settings; and protection gaps and responses in the existing international protection framework for forcibly displaced and stateless people.
The Dialogue on Protection Challenges is not structured to elicit formal or agreed outcomes, but rather provides a unique forum for a free and open exchange of views between states, non-governmental and intergovernmental organizations, the academic and research community and other stakeholders. At the close of the meeting, the High Commissioner delivers a summary of the discussions and highlights elements for follow up.
