Registration

PRIMES

International protection for asylum seekers and refugees begins with admission to a country of asylum and registration and documentation by national authorities or UNHCR.

Registration and identification of refugees is key for the people concerned, as well as for States to know who has arrived, and facilitates access to basic assistance and protection. The process of registration enables the early identification of individuals with specific needs within a population and their referral to an available protection response. The very fact of being registered can, in many contexts, protect against refoulement (forced return), arbitrary arrest and detention; it helps keeps families together and assists UNHCR in reuniting separated children with their families.

The individual data collected during registration provides the comprehensive population data needed for programme planning, including for shelter, food, water, health and sanitation facilities, cash-based interventions and other forms of targeted assistance. Registration data is also an important tool in ensuring the integrity of refugee protection systems and preventing and combating fraud, corruption and crime, including trafficking in persons.

Increasingly, identity documentation is being issued by government authorities, even where registration is still carried out by UNHCR. Government documentation constitutes formal proof of identity which is key to the legal, socio-economic and digital inclusion of persons of concern within their host communities. For example, a formal proof of identity credential can facilitate greater freedom of movement in the host country, empower refugees to open bank accounts, register for a SIM card and access online services and opportunities available to citizens everywhere.

As part of the Global Compact, UNHCR has undertaken to share resources and expertise to strengthen national capacity for individual registration and documentation, including support for digitalization, biometrics and other relevant technology, as well as the sharing of quality registration data, disaggregated by age, gender, disability, and diversity, in line with relevant data protection and privacy principles.