The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was established on December 14, 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The Refugee agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action for the world-wide protection of refugees and the resolution of refugee problems. The Refugee Agency's primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. The Refugee Agency strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find refuge in another State, and to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country. In more than five decades, the Refugee Agency has helped an estimated 50 million people restart their lives. Today, a staff of around 5,000 people in more than 120 countries continues to help an estimated 19,8 million persons.

The Open Society Justice Initiative, formerly known as the Constitutional and Legal Policy Institute (COLPI), is an operational program of the Open Society Institute. It promotes rights-based law reform, builds knowledge and strengthens legal capacity worldwide. Justice Initiative projects seek to shape law reform policy and achieve concrete results through hands-on technical assistance; litigation and legal advice; knowledge dissemination and network building; and counsel to donor institutions. The Justice Initiative works in the following thematic areas: national criminal justice reform; international justice; freedom of information and expression; anticorruption; equality and migration.

The Public Interest Law Initiative (PILI) is a center for learning and innovation that advances human rights principles by assisting in the development of a public interest law infrastructure. Based at the Columbia University Budapest Law Center, PILI's program priorities include promoting access to justice, clinical legal education, socially responsible legal practice, and good governance through the effective and just implementation of law. PILI also has an extensive training and education program, which includes publications, such as Pursuing the Public Interest: A Handbook for Legal Professionals and Activists, and a diverse range of workshops. PILI activities at Columbia Law School include the Public Interest Law Fellows Program for young lawyers from Central and Eastern Europe, Russia and Central Asia and a summer internship program for Columbia law students.

The Austrian Centre for Country of Origin and Asylum Research and Documentation (ACCORD) continuously documents human rights developments focusing on the criteria of the 1951 Geneva Refugee Convention and other legal instruments providing international protection and is thus a focal point for asylum relevant and up-to-date material. It provides independently, neutrally and objectively researched information on countries of origin of asylum seekers as well as information on the conditions in countries of reception. The use of a comprehensive selection of sources ensures balanced and corroborated information. Since 1999, ACCORD has answered more than 3.000 research requests on over 80 different countries. Its staff of social scientists and lawyers ensures high quality source assessment and research.

Menedék - Hungarian Association for Migrants was established in January 1995 as a civil initiative. The Association operates as a non-profit organization, independent from governmental institutions. Menedék's objectives are: to represent international migrants (asylum seekers, refugees, temporarily protected persons, foreign employees, immigrants, and other foreigners in Hungary) towards the majority society; to promote the legal, social, and cultural integration of those refugees and migrants who are planning to stay in Hungary by means of targeted programs and projects; to represent the interests and rights of migrants towards the political, administrative, governmental and municipal bodies and in the media; to elaborate sustainable partnerships with other civil societies pursuing similar goals. Menedék coordinates the Regional Competence Development Network Program (CDNP). CDNP aims to develop, implement and mainstream a regional support and learning strategy for professionals providing other than legal refugee-related services in Central and Eastern Europe, with the overall aim to strengthen the effectiveness of the target group's protection capacity.