IB History Role of United Nations (UN), Including the UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) and International Refugee Organization Notes

The Formation of the United Nations

1. The United Nations (UN) was founded in 1945, shortly after the end of the war, to promote international peace, security, and cooperation.
   1. It evolved from the League of Nations, which had been formed after the First World War but lacked the authority and membership to stop aggressive nations like Germany.
   2. The UN was planned to be stronger and more inclusive, with agencies that would promote development, human rights, and humanitarian aid.

UNRRA: The First Response to the DP Crisis

1. The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was set up on 9 November 1943.
   1. Although "United Nations" was in its name, it was not a UN agency because the UN did not yet exist.
   2. It is considered the forerunner of later UN agencies that took on similar or overlapping roles.
2. Under its Articles of Agreement, UNRRA was limited to assisting in the repatriation of DPs to their home countries.
   1. It did not cover POWs held in other countries or internally displaced persons from Axis powers.

How UNRRA Was Funded and Organized

1. UNRRA was funded by contributions from its member states.
   1. Countries that had not been invaded were expected to contribute the equivalent of 1% of their annual income.
   2. The United States provided about one third of the funding.
2. In total, 44 countries contributed, including the Soviet Union, Australia, Brazil, South Africa, India, and New Zealand.
   1. The US, Britain, and Canada contributed most of the USD 3.9 billion total.
3. Each member government was represented on a Council.
   1. A central committee (China, the Soviet Union, Britain, and the United States) made policy decisions between Council sessions.
   2. A Director-General oversaw about 25,000 staff worldwide.
   3. UNRRA headquarters were in Washington, D.C., with a European Regional Office in London.
4. By 1945, UNRRA was serving about 12 European nations with a staff of over 10,000 volunteers.
   1. It eventually supervised as many as 125 private international agencies that raised funds and goods for war-torn Europe.
   2. UNRRA provided commodity aid (donations of goods such as food, medicine, clothing, or fuel rather than money).

What UNRRA Did in the Camps

1. UNRRA managed hundreds of displaced persons camps in Germany, Italy, and Austria during 1945.
   1. It assisted in the repatriation of millions of refugees, provided health and welfare assistance, and offered vocational training and entertainment.
   2. It also coordinated the work of 23 separate voluntary welfare agencies, including the Joint Distribution Committee, ORT, and HIAS.
2. UNRRA employed many thousands of people, most of them women.
   1. They went through training in Granville, Normandy, before being sent to DP camps across Europe.
   2. Conditions in the camps were dire: displaced persons slept on stinking straw mattresses on dirt floors, wore borrowed clothes and ill-fitting shoes, and were bitten by fleas and lice.
   3. UNRRA members set up soup kitchens, medical aid stations, and registration systems so the camps could be managed.
3. The sheer volume of displaced people overwhelmed UNRRA.
   1. The Allied armies focused on sorting people by nationality and sending them back to their country of origin.
   2. Jewish people were initially not treated as a religious group but identified by nationality.
   3. The military forces and UNRRA did not recognize that Jewish survivors required special assistance in the form of medical care, enhanced rations, and Yiddish-speaking staff.
   4. Instead, they were sorted by nationality and, within months of the war's end, pushed back into the same boxcars that had brought them to the camps.

UNRRA's Successes and Failures

1. UNRRA achieved a great deal under extremely difficult circumstances.
   1. It provided food, clothing, shelter, and medical help for millions of people.
   2. It operated hundreds of DP camps.
   3. It laid the foundation for future UN agencies.
2. In total, USD 4 billion was spent on aid through UNRRA.
3. But it also had significant problems.
   1. It was disbanded in 1947 before the crisis was over (although it was replaced by the IRO).
   2. It sometimes forced people to return to their countries of origin.
   3. It was overwhelmed by the logistical challenge of dealing with so many people, and its planning was often poor.
   4. It relied heavily on military support, but the Allied forces sometimes saw UNRRA's actions as a threat to their control of the European occupations.
4. Cold War tensions also undermined UNRRA.
   1. The founders disagreed about who would pay for operations and who would benefit.
   2. Yugoslavia was one of the first countries to protest.
   3. The United States was sceptical about providing services to Poles, Ukrainians, and Yugoslavs who were increasingly pro-Soviet and anti-West.
   4. Its remaining responsibilities were taken over by the IRO.

The International Refugee Organization (IRO)

1. The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was founded in 1946 to take over and expand the work of UNRRA.
   1. By 1946, the immediate refugee crisis was over, but the "Last Million" remained: people who could not be repatriated because they had a legitimate fear of persecution based on their race, religion, nationality, or political views.
   2. Responsibility for this group passed from UNRRA to the IRO in June 1947.
2. The IRO shifted focus from organizing repatriation to dealing with emigration.
   1. It had several core functions:
   2. Care of DPs: The IRO ran the network of DP camps in Germany, Austria, and Italy, housing 707,000 people. DPs were no longer considered temporarily displaced persons but refugees seeking a stable destination.
   3. Registration and legal protection: The IRO instituted procedures for identifying DPs and providing them with legal protection by clarifying their status as refugees.
   4. Resettlement: The IRO prioritized voluntary repatriation but also helped refugees resettle in countries such as the United States, Australia, and Canada. It coordinated with governments to secure immigration access and facilitated international cooperation.
3. Some categories of displaced persons were excluded from the IRO's protection.
   1. These included ethnic Germans, people displaced by border changes in Yugoslavia, Poland, and elsewhere, and people who had volunteered to assist the Axis powers during the war.
4. The IRO was dissolved in 1952 after resettling just over 1 million refugees.
   1. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) was created by the UN in 1950 and took over full responsibility for international refugee efforts once the IRO was dissolved in 1952.
   2. The UNHCR is still in operation today and remains one of the key humanitarian agencies in the world.

The 1951 Refugee Convention: A Legal Definition at Last

1. In 1951, the Refugee Convention created a legal definition for refugees that is still in use today.
   1. A refugee is defined as "someone who is unable or unwilling to return to their country of origin owing to a well-founded fear of being persecuted for reasons of race, religion, nationality, membership of a particular social group or political opinion."
2. At the time the convention was adopted, there were still 175,000 DPs left in central Europe, usually because they were stateless, elderly, or unable to work due to illness or disease.
   1. As late as 1959, thousands of people were still waiting in "temporary" accommodation.
   2. The UN declared 1959 as World Refugee Year, which led to renewed resettlement efforts.
   3. Some of the last DPs stayed in Germany, Austria, or Italy, eventually gaining citizenship or permanent residency.
   4. The last camps closed in the early 1950s, with Föhrenwald, the final camp, closing in 1957.

The Long-Term Consequences of the International Response

1. The post-war efforts had several lasting consequences.
   1. The repatriation and relocation efforts helped make European countries more ethnically homogeneous.
   2. The evolution of UN agencies from UNRRA to the IRO to the UNHCR was the beginning of a global humanitarian system that continues to respond to forced migrations today.
2. International organizations such as the UN and the IRC later recognized that the right of a person to choose their place of residence needed to be respected.
   1. They acknowledged that forced deportations of asylum seekers amounted to refoulement and constituted a serious violation of the 1951 Refugee Convention.
   2. But immediately after the war, the priority was to get as many people home as possible, as quickly as possible, and this principle was not initially followed.