Legal Aspects of Innovative Finance at unhcr: The Case of the Global Islamic Fund for Refugees

Abstract This paper examines legal aspects of the innovative finance practice of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees ( unhcr ), the UN refugee agency, through the case of the Global Islamic Fund for Refugees ( gifr ). In doing so, it analyses certain legal parameters of international organizations law pertaining to innovative fundraising initiatives, particularly in its interaction with broader capital markets, multilateral development banks, and private and public finance. It does so by (i) outlining the key legal parameters of innovative finance at unhcr ; (ii) analysing the gifr ’s structure and legal innovations, examining how these have expressed the use of international organizations law not only as a compliance tool but as a formative element of humanitarian and development fundraising, and the inter-relation between international organizations and public and private finance; and (iii) deriving key lessons from this case and offering broader legal considerations regarding the use of innovative finance structures by international organizations.