Around the world, UNHCR has two basic and closely related aims: to protect refugees and to seek ways to help them restart their lives in a normal environment.

Protection includes a range of activities, including assistance efforts that are aimed at securing the rights of UNHCR’s persons of concern.

Governments are responsible for the protection of all people on their territory. In reality, however, governments may be unable or unwilling to provide such protection, and they may require the support of the international community.

In Sri Lanka, UNHCR has extended its mandate to protect and assist internally displaced persons (IDPs), returnees (people previously displaced by conflict and now returning home) as well as asylum seekers and refugees arriving from other countries, Sri Lankan refugees returning from overseas, and stateless people who are habitually resident in Sri Lanka.

In this section, you will find information on UNHCR Sri Lanka s protection activities, including details of how the agency can assist persons of concern and useful reference materials on issues of concern.