Henley & Partners Forges Partnership with UNHCR to Support Global Refugee Cause

Dubai, 06 April 2015 - Henley & Partners announces an innovative partnership with the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and donates more than USD 1 million to help the global refugee cause.

Henley & Partners, the global leaders in residence and citizenship planning for wealthy individuals and families, has announced the creation of an innovative partnership with the UN Refugee Agency to join forces in support of those at the other end of the spectrum of global mobility. Through a multi-year partnership Henley & Partners will support UNHCR’s global refugee registration activities with a contribution of over USD 1 million and further advocate and assist UNHCR’s resource mobilisation efforts in the interests of its people of concern.

The concept of residence and citizenship planning was created by Henley & Partners in the 1990s. As globalization expanded, residence and citizenship investor programs have become of significant interest among the increasing number of internationally mobile entrepreneurs and investors. The freedom to move in between borders is today facilitated by a number of successful residence and citizenship programs offered by governments all over the world.

“We work at the forefront of this sector and are in a unique position to advocate and facilitate Global Citizenship,” says Christian H. Kalin, the Chairman of Henley & Partners. “It is only natural for us to acknowledge the plight of millions of uprooted families who flee each day the horror of war and conflict to look for international protection in other countries, and to join our forces with UNHCR.”

The GCC countries in specific are host to millions of migrant workers, many originating from refugee-producing countries. Currently, Turkey hosts more than 1.5 million Syrian refugees while Lebanon is home to 1.1 million, and Jordan has registered nearly 620,000.

Henley & Partners’ support will be primarily focused on funding refugee registration and identification documents. UNHCR’s Registration Program is the starting point for all humanitarian assistance. Proper registration and documentation are key to allowing a refugee to access services, and receive aid or protection under the law.

Registration is also fundamental to identify those refugees who are most in need, such as female-headed households, separated children and people with disabilities, and provide them with appropriate protection. UNHCR registration often provides the only form of documentation for these people. This step is generally perceived as an administrative process rather than as the gateway to protection and services in other countries, and rarely attracts donor funding.

Beyond substantial financial support, Henley & Partners will also integrate advocacy actions for refugees in its corporate social responsibility program by organizing fundraising events and engaging its co-workers, partners and clients to help uprooted people around the world.

A dedicated fundraising dinner for UNHCR will also be organized on 3 November 2015 in Dubai on the occasion of the Global Citizen Award launch at the Henley & Partners 9th Global Residence & Citizenship Conference, the world’s leading event of its kind.

Conflict and indiscriminate violence has plagued large areas of the Middle East in 2014, creating unprecedented protection and humanitarian needs for people of concern to UNHCR. According to UNHCR’s Middle East operations profile for 2015, the agency’s financial requirements for the region have increased dramatically in recent years from USD 506.4 million in 2011 to a revised budget of USD 1.7 billion in 2015 mainly due to the growing needs arising from the recent developments in Syria, Yemen and Iraq.

Additional funding from Henley & Partners will support the UNHCR to maintain and deepen its impact on protecting refugees and resolving refugee problems.

UNHCR was set up in 1951 to help the estimated 1 million people still uprooted after World War II to return home. Since then, they have helped find durable solutions for tens of millions of refugees through repatriation, local integration or in extreme cases of persecution or insecurity, resettlement. At the start of 2014, over 51.2 million people were uprooted worldwide as a result of persecution, conflict, generalized violence, or human rights violations. This staggering figure is the highest the world has registered at any point since the Second World War.

The UNHCR will continue building on the important contributions of GCC countries (Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates) and encourage their leadership and support for providing resources and funds to help refugee around the Middle East. The organization will also work to bridge the link between humanitarian refugee response and refugee-hosting countries’ need for stability in a context of regional turmoil.