Historical Organization
UNHCR
UNHCR
Details
Organization Timeline
First Vietnamese boat refugees arrive on Malaysia’s coast
📅 May 1975UNHCR records the arrival in May 1975 of the first boat carrying 47 people to Malaysia. This early flight began a prolonged regional refugee movement shaped by war’s end, state change, political...
Vietnam announces readiness to allow legal emigration under conditions
📅 12 January 1979The Vietnamese government told UNHCR it would permit legal departures for specified categories. This was followed by negotiations toward a regular channel for family reunification and humanitarian...
Vietnam and UNHCR agree on an Orderly Departure Programme
📅 30 May 1979A memorandum established procedures for family-reunification and other humanitarian departures from Vietnam. The programme created a legal pathway for many people while leaving eligibility rules and...
Boat departures from Vietnam reach an acute humanitarian scale
📅 31 May 1979UNHCR reporting later recorded nearly 60,000 Vietnamese boat refugees arriving during May 1979. Many fled in dangerous vessels; ethnic Chinese in Vietnam were among those pushed to leave amid state...
UNHCR mission visits Vietnam amid rising departures
📅 31 May 1979A UNHCR mission visited Vietnam from May 25 to 31 as the regional refugee crisis deepened. Its work occurred amid contested accounts of why people were leaving and growing international pressure for...
Vietnam issues a statement on people fleeing abroad
📅 20 June 1979Vietnam transmitted a Foreign Ministry statement addressing departures by sea and its position on the refugee crisis. Read alongside refugee testimony and UNHCR records, the state statement is...
UN meeting in Geneva addresses Southeast Asian refugees
📅 20 July 1979Governments met to address refugee arrivals, first-asylum responsibilities, rescue and protection at sea, and resettlement. The meeting produced a multilateral response but also made admission...
U.N. meeting on Southeast Asian refugees opens in Geneva
📅 20 July 1979Governments met in Geneva to address refugees and displaced persons in Southeast Asia. The meeting sought asylum, rescue, and resettlement commitments as boat departures accelerated and first-asylum...
Geneva refugee meeting concludes with resettlement commitments
📅 21 July 1979The two-day meeting concluded with pledges for resettlement and international assistance. UNHCR reported that offers reached 260,000 by the end of the meeting, creating a framework for relief while...
Vietnam transmits refugee policy documents to the United Nations
📅 30 December 1979Vietnam sent the U.N. texts of its May memorandum with UNHCR, a June Foreign Ministry statement, and its speech at the July Geneva meeting. The documentary exchange captured the competing claims of...
Preparatory refugee meeting advances a regional action plan
📅 7 March 1989Governments and international agencies met in Kuala Lumpur to prepare a multilateral response to rising arrivals from Indochina. The process sought to preserve first asylum, assess refugee claims,...
International Conference on Indochinese Refugees adopts the Comprehensive Plan of Action
📅 13 June 1989Governments and UNHCR agreed on a regional framework combining first asylum, resettlement, voluntary repatriation, and refugee-status determination. The policy reduced irregular departures over time...
International Conference on Indo-Chinese Refugees opens in Geneva
📅 13 June 1989The conference brought states and UN agencies together amid a growing number of Vietnamese and other Indochinese asylum seekers. It addressed asylum, resettlement, screening, and return, making...
Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese refugees is adopted
📅 14 June 1989Participants adopted the CPA to combine temporary asylum, refugee status determination, resettlement, orderly departure, and voluntary return. It offered a regional framework but also linked continued...
UNHCR estimates more than six million Afghan refugees
📅 31 December 1990By December 1990 UNHCR estimated more than 6.3 million Afghan refugees in neighboring states: about 3.3 million in Pakistan and 3 million in Iran. The figure shows how war and foreign intervention...
UNHCR steering committee sets a closing date for the refugee action plan
📅 6 March 1996At the final meeting of the CPA steering committee, participating governments confirmed that the regional plan would formally end on 30 June. This decision sought to close a large asylum and...
Malaysia closes its last camp for Vietnamese boat refugees
📅 25 June 1996Malaysia and UNHCR closed the final camp after more than two decades of asylum, transit, return, and resettlement. More than a quarter-million people had passed through the country. The closure marked...
Malaysia closes a camp for Vietnamese boat arrivals
📅 25 June 1996A camp for Vietnamese asylum seekers in Malaysia closed five days before the formal end of the Comprehensive Plan of Action. The closure marked the end of a period of first asylum and screening for...
Comprehensive Plan of Action for Indochinese refugees formally ends
📅 30 June 1996The CPA formally ended after seven years of regional refugee management. UNHCR continued to support some voluntary returns and assistance after the formal closure. The end of the plan did not mean...
UNHCR closes its post-CPA repatriation operation in Southeast Asia
📅 30 September 1996UNHCR ended a transitional period of repatriation and care assistance after the CPA. People who had returned to Vietnam still needed reintegration support, while regional governments and agencies...
Operation Moshtarak drives displacement from Marjah
📅 13 February 2010Afghan and international forces launched Operation Moshtarak to retake Marjah and assert state authority. UN agencies later estimated about 27,700 people displaced from Marjah and Nad Ali since 8...
UN launches emergency appeal for Afghanistan
📅 13 September 2021The UN launched a $606 million appeal to provide life-saving aid to about 11 million people through year-end. Most humanitarian staff inside Afghanistan were Afghan nationals.
Pakistan’s deadline for undocumented Afghans to leave takes effect
📅 1 November 2023A Pakistani government deadline required undocumented foreigners, many of them Afghans, to leave or face deportation. UN agencies warned that families, including some with legal documents or refugee...
UN warns of civilian casualties and water disruption
📅 25 September 2024UN briefing cited Lebanese authorities reporting nearly 600 deaths in the recent escalation, including children and women, and damage to water infrastructure affecting access to clean water.
UN humanitarian agencies warn of flight from Lebanon
📅 27 September 2024UN humanitarian officials described widespread destruction and displacement, including large numbers crossing from Lebanon into Syria as strikes intensified.
UN describes displacement crisis in Lebanon
📅 8 October 2024The UN reported more than 600,000 internally displaced people identified by IOM, with many schools serving as collective shelters. Humanitarian access to Tyre remained difficult.
UN documents large-scale internal displacement
📅 8 October 2024OCHA reported Lebanese estimates exceeding one million displaced people, with IOM identifying over 600,000 internally displaced people as of that date.
UNHCR protection brief records mass displacement
📅 21 October 2024UNHCR reported 809,043 internally displaced people as of 21 October, alongside damaged health and water facilities. This is a dated reporting milestone, not a separate armed action.
UNHCR records 2.9 million returns to Afghanistan in 2025
📅 24 February 2026UNHCR estimated 2.9 million Afghan returns in 2025, many under adverse conditions. Limited housing, work and services deepened the humanitarian strain on returnees.
UNHCR reports mass internal displacement in Iran
📅 12 March 2026A UNHCR preliminary assessment estimated that 600,000 to one million Iranian households, or up to 3.2 million people, had temporarily relocated inside Iran by 12 March. The estimate was assembled...