1951 Convention and Protocol relating to the Status of Refugees

States. As of 1 August 2007, there were 147 States Parties to one or both ofthese instruments.By its statute, the Office of the High Commissioner is entrusted, inter alia,with the task of promoting international instruments for the protectionof refugees, and supervising their application. Under the Convention andProtocol, contracting States undertake to cooperate with the Office ofUNHCR in the exercise of its functions and, in particular, to facilitate itsspecific duty of supervising the application of the provisions of these instruments.In view of the increasing recognition of the fundamental significance of theConvention and the Protocol for the protection of refugees and for the establishmentof minimum standards for their treatment, it is important thattheir provisions should be known as widely as possible, both by refugees andby all those concerned with refugee problems.Information on accessions to the Convention and to the Protocol, as well asother relevant details, may be obtained from UNHCR, or from the UNHCRwebsite at www.unhcr.org.Geneva, August 2007c o n v e n t i o n a n d p r o t o c o l