Handbook for Emergencies

The third edition of UNHCR’s Emergency Handbook is a reference tool which serves to reinforce a common understanding among the many key actors in emergency situations. This edition includes a number of important revisions of the handbook based on valuable inputs from the nongovernmental organisations and other partners who are an integral part of the standby capacity.

UNHCR is asked to help identify genuine asylum-seekers among the growing groups of new arrivals mixed in with migrants, putting a premium on UNHCR ability to deploy qualified staff for protection screening and refugee status determination. As part of the collective response by the United Nations and the humanitarian community to situations of internal displacement, UNHCR has assumed leading responsibility for the protection, emergency shelter and camp coordination and management clusters, necessitating coordination and emergency management expertise.

This tool include an emphasis on security awareness as an integral part of daily life and work in operations, along with important information on UNHCR and the military; a new chapter on combating HIV/AIDS in refugee situations; and how to prevent and respond to sexual and gender-based violence in emergencies. The revised Handbook underscores the need to understand, from the very outset of an emergency, the protection risks facing different members of a community and describes how to conduct participatory assessments with women, girls, boys and men to ensure adequate assistance and protection for all.