MADRID.- From the 21 to the 29 of January, the ACNUR/UNHCR Spanish committee is organizing an exhibition and online auction, titled Refugi@rte, at an exhibition space owned by BBVA. This artistic project gathers 50 works of art made by 39 internationally recognized such artists including Miquel Barcelo, Eduardo Chillida, Joan Genoves, Antoni Tapies, Antonio Saura, Cristina Iglesias and Manolo Valdes, among others.

The initiative has received collaboration from artists, art galleries, BBVA and TV presenter and ACNUR/UNHCR Goodwill Ambassador, Jesús Vázquez, who has supported and promoted the event.

The funds collected from the auction of the works of art will be destined to finance ACNUR projects to palliate hunger in refugee camps in Kenya, Chad, Ethiopia and Darfur.

The exhibition of the works to be auctioned includes ceramics by Eduardo Arroyo and Pérez Villalta; an etching by Miquel Barceló, Lanzarote 23; a serigraph by Eduardo Chillida; two acrylic paintings by Joan Genovés: Comet and Decisions; two handmade lithographs by Josep M. Guinovart.

The online auction will be held at www.socialbid.es/ACNUR

Headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland, the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) (established December 14, 1950) is a United Nations agency mandated to protect and support refugees at the request of a government or the UN itself and assists in their voluntary repatriation, local integration or resettlement to a third country.

UNHCR was established on December 14, 1950 and succeeded the earlier United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration. The agency is mandated to lead and co-ordinate international action to protect refugees and resolve refugee problems worldwide. Its primary purpose is to safeguard the rights and well-being of refugees. It strives to ensure that everyone can exercise the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another State, with the option to return home voluntarily, integrate locally or to resettle in a third country.

UNHCR's mandate has gradually been expanded to include protecting and providing humanitarian assistance to what it describes as other persons "of concern," including internally displaced persons (IDPs) who would fit the legal definition of a refugee under the 1951 United Nations Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees and 1967 Protocol, the 1969 Organization for African Unity Convention, or some other treaty if they left their country, but who presently remain in their country of origin. UNHCR presently has major missions in Lebanon, South Sudan, Chad/Darfur, Democratic Republic of Congo, Iraq, Afghanistan as well as Kenya to assist and provide services to IDPs and refugees.