History of World Refugee Policy, 1950-1973

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Until the 1970s, the international community approached the refugee issue as a sort of singular, exceptional emergency case, mainly limited to Europe; not a continuing world problem. A global international refugee policy only emerged gradually, between 1950 and 1970. Examining how, why and under which circumstances this change occurred is the main focus of this research project. As a first step, the project sums up the first important political steps that initiated the international aid towards refugees during the interwar period and the postwar period after World War II. The analysis then focuses on four important historical moments that helped to shape the development of an institutionalized world refugee policy: the developmental phase of the UNHCR and the Geneva Refugee Convention in 1949 and 1950; the Universalization of Refugee aid during the Algeria Refugee Crisis from 1957-1960; the New York Protocol from 1959-1967 and the international practice of the UNHCR in Bangladesh from 1971-1973, when the UNHCR served as focal point organization for the first time, helping organize the repatriation of over 10 million people. This is when the UNHCR attained the international status it has kept through today, as the world community's central refugee organization.