ExCom Members and Parties to Conventions

UNHCR is governed by the United Nations General Assembly and the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). In 1958, ECOSOC established the Executive Committee of the High Commissioner’s Programme (ExCom), pursuant to a resolution of the General Assembly. Its main tasks are to approve the High Commissioner’s programmes, advise the High Commissioner in the exercise of his functions (mainly on protection issues), and oversee the Office’s finances and administration.

ExCom holds an annual session in Geneva every October. The 74th session took place from 9 to 13 October 2023. Meetings of the Executive Committee’s Standing Committee are held at various dates throughout the year to carry on the work between plenary sessions.

ExCom membership is on the widest possible geographical basis from those States (Members of the United Nations) with a demonstrated interest in, and devotion to, the solution of refugee problems. By the end of 2023, there were 108 ExCom members listed - in blue - in the following table which also shows the States parties to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its Protocol of 1967 and to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness.