Informal Summary: Third High Commissioner's Dialogue on Protection Challenges

Urbanization is now recognized to be an irreversible global trend. More and more people of concern to UNHCR – refugees, returnees, internally displaced persons (IDPs) and returnees – will live in cities.1 The third High Commissioner?s Dialogue on Protection Challenges was held in Geneva from 8-10 December 2009 on the theme “challenges for persons of concern in urban settings”. It took the form of two interrelated events:

A half-day Roundtable of Mayors on the theme “humanitarian challenges in the context of urbanization” (8 December 2009). 2 It enabled Mayors from 15 cities, representatives of municipal administrations from six cities, and representatives of two networks of cities to exchange their experiences, identify specific challenges, and make suggestions on ways to address them.

A two-day session of inter-active discussions (9-10 December 2009), consisting of a mix of plenary sessions, small-group discussions in breakout sessions, and three side events.