Cookie notice
This cookie notice explains how we use cookies on UNHCR Help websites and associated sites that provide information to refugees, asylum-seekers, stateless and internally displaced people. It is complementary to our Privacy Notice, which explains more broadly how we collect, use and protect your personal data when you visit our websites and mobile applications.
What are cookies?
Cookies are small data files made up of letters and numbers placed onto your computer or other mobile devices when you access our websites. We set cookies when you visit our websites to respond to online surveys or polls, or request information. Accepting the cookies used on our websites does not give us access to your personally identifiable information, but we can use the cookies to identify your device in future visits.
How are cookies used on our websites?
UNHCR uses cookies for remembering your device throughout your visit to our websites and for remembering you when you return to them. Encrypted information gathered from cookies is used to understand the performance of our websites and improve your experience while using it. This information is anonymous and based on behaviour rather than on personally distinguishable features. We also use cookie data to ensure our websites’ functionality and performance.
More specifically, we use cookies for the following reasons:
1. To improve your experience on our websites
Cookies enable us to ensure that we are providing you with content that is relevant to your interests while deprioritizing content that is not relevant to you. For example, cookies can tell us if you have shown interest in learning about a page, ensuring that information about it is prioritized the next time you visit this website. Cookies can also tell us if, for instance, you have filled in a UNHCR form, so that we don’t present this to you the next time you visit our websites. Cookies can also provide an understanding about other factors relating to your visit, such as which part of the world you are visiting from, or whether your website browser supports the different technologies used on our websites.
2. To understand how our websites are performing
Cookies help to provide us with anonymous statistics that tell us about how many users visit our website, where they come from and how they interact with it. This information is very useful for us to be able to see which pages and content on our websites are most popular.
How can I disable cookies?
If you do not wish to have cookies installed on your computer or mobile device, you can set your browser to notify you before you receive a cookie, giving you the chance to decide whether to accept it. You can also set your browser to turn off cookies. If you do so, however, some areas of our websites may not function properly.
Are there cookies set by a third party?
Some of the cookies you may receive when visiting our websites are not related to UNHCR. For example, if you visit sections of our websites that contain embedded content such as an embedded video, or contain a plugin such as a social media like button, you may receive cookies delivered from these websites.
UNHCR does not govern the settings or use of these third-party cookies. We suggest that you visit these websites for more information about their cookies and applicable privacy policies. UNHCR cannot be held responsible for the privacy of data collected by websites that it does not own or manage, even if these websites link to our websites.