The Jesuit Refugee Service (JRS) is an international Catholic organisation with a mission to accompany, serve and defend the rights of refugees and forcibly displaced people. JRS undertakes services at national and regional levels with the support of an international office in Rome. Founded in November 1980 as a work of the Society of Jesus, JRS was officially registered on 19 March 2000 at the Vatican State as a foundation.

JRS programmes are found in over 50 countries, providing assistance to refugees in refugee camps, to people displaced within their own country, to asylum seekers in cities and those held in detention. The main areas of work are in the field of Education, Advocacy, Emergency Assistance, Health and Nutrition, Income Generating Activities and Social Services. At the end of 2004, more than 450,000 individuals are direct beneficiaries of JRS projects.

Nearly 1,000 workers contribute to the work of JRS, the majority of whom work on a voluntary basis, including about 75 Jesuits (priests, brothers and scholastics) and 75 religious from other congregations. These figures do not include the large number of refugees recruited to take part in the programmes as teachers, health workers and others.