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The UNHCR and World Politics: A Perilous Path
Over fifty years ago, governments established the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to be a human rights and advocacy organization. This is the first independent history of this highly important establishment. Gil Loescher, one of the world's leading experts on refugee affairs, draws upon decades of personal experience and research to examine the origins and evolution of the UNHCR, identifying many of the major challenges facing the organization in the years ahead. A key focus is the extent to which the evolution of the UNHCR has been framed by the crucial events of international politics during the past half century and how, in turn, the actions of the eight past High Commissioners have helped shape the course of world history. In the end, Loescher offers a series of bold policy recommendations aimed at making the agency a more effective and accountable advocate for the millions of refugees in the world today.
- GenresNonfiction
446 pages, Paperback
First published May 24, 2001
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
September 5, 2017
As someone who has recently worked for UNHCR as an unpaid intern in the Brussels bureau of UNHCR this was one of the most interesting books I have read this year as it resolved a lot of questions I did not realize I had concerning the organization I worked for.
This book aims at three things; it want's to give a detailed overview of the historical context for when UNHCR was founded as well as it course it has taken since it's foundation, secondly it is an overview of all of the major refugee generated conflicts since world war 1 and zooming in on the refugee dimension of the conflict (an uncommon zoompoint) and finally it is an advisory text for UNHCR staff members, based on their organisations history and evaluation of it's policies concerning aforementioned refugee crisis's. Loescher hopes that this book would change some things in the organisational functioning of UNHCR in particular the lack of institutional history, as she puts it; a serious lack of learning of past mistakes and successes on what made those actions fail or succeed or later on; a lack of transfer of expertise gained by seniority and honest reflection of past actions. These actions are listed meticulously and coherently, even if at some point the listing of crisis's and UNHCR actions do get a bit repetitive and could have used a little change in style and structure to keep my full attention.
It would be a bit pointless to sum up every crisis and UNHCR's actions but I will highlight the parts I found most interesting and well documented. For starters the book does not start its historical overview when UNHCR was founded but starts its tale whit the Nansen organisation, the organisation led by Fridtjof Nansen to deal with the huge numbers of refugees and stateless persons wandering around Europe ten years after world war 1 and the Russian revolution. This precursor to UNHCR has become a bit forgotten as have other refugee related organisations founded between 1930 and 1960 but are an interesting aspect of the book as it shows how UNHCR could have become a mere footnote of history thanks to in a large part the heads of UNHCR and their determination. I found it a convincing narrative even if I do believe the author spent too much attention on the heads of UNHCR and I could not agree with the little to no attention the people in the field got (even if she defends this by pointing out the rigid top down structure UNHCR has). In effect the historical overview is the story of how UNHCR grew from a temporary outfit of roughly 15 people to the global super organisation it is today and what it lost and gained along the way or perhaps more exactly was has changed.
One the most ironic changes is how in the beginning UNHCR was saved by a donation of the rockerfeller foundation, a donation that allowed it to survive those first unstable years when no government wanted them or their advice on how to deal with refugees, ironic because the last few decades UNHCR is the UN organisation most depended on the funding and goodwill of governments with little to no private funding or donations. Another big Ironic change is how the organisation went from an organisation focused on refugee rights with no funds to support those refugees and the current organisation that has downgraded it's protection and rights agenda and is now supporting millions of people with food, medicine, education and housing. Ironic how refugees and it's defense organisation UNHCR have turned full circle starting as perceived to be unwanted burdens and cause of destabilization (1940ties-1950ties) to being seen as potentially useful political tools and bargaining chips for international legitimacy (1950ties-1990ties), back to being perceived as being burdens and cause of destabilization (1990ties -today). UNHCR in this narrative changed from an unrecognized authority (1940ties-1960ties) to a useful partner and valuable adviser (1960ties-2000) to end up as a unenthusiastic enforcer of it's biggest funders short term agenda (2000-today).
Even if the book is all about the changes, it does have a thing or two to say about continuation even if not intended to do so. The current refugee crisis in Europe, Mediterranean and Sahel show some remarkable similarities with the refugees from word war II and the European state reactions (with several thousands stuck in camps or wandering Europe until the 1960ties unwanted by any state for they would be a burden). The chapters on boar refugees form south east asia (the second largest refugee crisis the world had ever seen since World War II until the current one) made several bell ring when compared to what is happening in the Mediterranean as well. In effect it only proves the point Gil Loescher is making; focusing solely on supporting refugees and getting them home as fast as possible even if the conditions back home that caused their flights have not dramatically improved is short sighted and UNHCR needs to revamp it's original core objective of human rights.
Now I might give the impression Loescher is unrelenting critic dismissing the organisations efforts but that is not true at all. Loescher is adamant in her support for those UNHCR staff that have risked their lives in the field and is firm in her belief that UNHCR is one of the most idealist driven UN organisations. Several of UNHCR big successes are described in detail such as the Mozambique civil war crisis and return of refugees, the boat people of the 1970ties and the strong insistent defence of European refugees after world War II abandoned and rejected by all, the correct anticipation of upcoming independent former colonies and the need to be present in those regions (to escape the stigma of being the organisation for European refugees). But she also lists failures such as the Rwanda, Zaire refugees where they first refused to help Tutsi refugees and later supported Hutu refugees a significant number of whom had been part of the Rwanda genocide. The Bosnia and Kossovo crisis are spoken of in detail and how the successful PR campaign of UNHCR to be the number one humanitarian organisation involving refugees was a show of overconfidence when compared to it's actual capabilities as an organisation. Loescher is strict but not overly harsh in her judgment of UNHCR's handling of these situations, focusing on the various steps and turns that led UNHCR to the decisions it made rather then condemning the staff and persons involved. In fact it only makes those mistakes and the lives lost more tragic, for instance the organisation silence on the Indonesian purges in the 1960ties is undeniably linked to the silent approval or least toleration by western states of the Indonesian authorities actions (states that guaranteed UNHCR continued existence), or it's inaction during Biafra out of fear of appearing to choose a side (a fear that would return in Rwanda). The implicit comment being, If UNHCR had been more autonomous from it's funders it would have the freedom to pursue it's role as human rights protector fully.
As loescher put's it UNHCR has from the start faced an unsolvable dilemma, it is in it's core a rights defense organisation of people unwanted by the vast majority of governments in the world yet depended on those same governments for funding, access to refugees and implementation of the rights they defend. This paradox is the core concept that has pushed UNHCR development as an organisation and made it turn away from that historical core to be an organisation that keeps refugees manageable in camps to be returned as soon as possible from whence they came. The individual rights approach changed into a mass material support approach. The pragmatic has replaced the original ideals when it comes to the raison dêtre of the organisation and that has had a lot of consequences for the organisation and refugees world wide.
It is an ambitious book to say the least but it pulled it off, give it a read if you are interested in refugees and to get a long term perspective on the current European, Sahel refugee crisis.
This book aims at three things; it want's to give a detailed overview of the historical context for when UNHCR was founded as well as it course it has taken since it's foundation, secondly it is an overview of all of the major refugee generated conflicts since world war 1 and zooming in on the refugee dimension of the conflict (an uncommon zoompoint) and finally it is an advisory text for UNHCR staff members, based on their organisations history and evaluation of it's policies concerning aforementioned refugee crisis's. Loescher hopes that this book would change some things in the organisational functioning of UNHCR in particular the lack of institutional history, as she puts it; a serious lack of learning of past mistakes and successes on what made those actions fail or succeed or later on; a lack of transfer of expertise gained by seniority and honest reflection of past actions. These actions are listed meticulously and coherently, even if at some point the listing of crisis's and UNHCR actions do get a bit repetitive and could have used a little change in style and structure to keep my full attention.
It would be a bit pointless to sum up every crisis and UNHCR's actions but I will highlight the parts I found most interesting and well documented. For starters the book does not start its historical overview when UNHCR was founded but starts its tale whit the Nansen organisation, the organisation led by Fridtjof Nansen to deal with the huge numbers of refugees and stateless persons wandering around Europe ten years after world war 1 and the Russian revolution. This precursor to UNHCR has become a bit forgotten as have other refugee related organisations founded between 1930 and 1960 but are an interesting aspect of the book as it shows how UNHCR could have become a mere footnote of history thanks to in a large part the heads of UNHCR and their determination. I found it a convincing narrative even if I do believe the author spent too much attention on the heads of UNHCR and I could not agree with the little to no attention the people in the field got (even if she defends this by pointing out the rigid top down structure UNHCR has). In effect the historical overview is the story of how UNHCR grew from a temporary outfit of roughly 15 people to the global super organisation it is today and what it lost and gained along the way or perhaps more exactly was has changed.
One the most ironic changes is how in the beginning UNHCR was saved by a donation of the rockerfeller foundation, a donation that allowed it to survive those first unstable years when no government wanted them or their advice on how to deal with refugees, ironic because the last few decades UNHCR is the UN organisation most depended on the funding and goodwill of governments with little to no private funding or donations. Another big Ironic change is how the organisation went from an organisation focused on refugee rights with no funds to support those refugees and the current organisation that has downgraded it's protection and rights agenda and is now supporting millions of people with food, medicine, education and housing. Ironic how refugees and it's defense organisation UNHCR have turned full circle starting as perceived to be unwanted burdens and cause of destabilization (1940ties-1950ties) to being seen as potentially useful political tools and bargaining chips for international legitimacy (1950ties-1990ties), back to being perceived as being burdens and cause of destabilization (1990ties -today). UNHCR in this narrative changed from an unrecognized authority (1940ties-1960ties) to a useful partner and valuable adviser (1960ties-2000) to end up as a unenthusiastic enforcer of it's biggest funders short term agenda (2000-today).
Even if the book is all about the changes, it does have a thing or two to say about continuation even if not intended to do so. The current refugee crisis in Europe, Mediterranean and Sahel show some remarkable similarities with the refugees from word war II and the European state reactions (with several thousands stuck in camps or wandering Europe until the 1960ties unwanted by any state for they would be a burden). The chapters on boar refugees form south east asia (the second largest refugee crisis the world had ever seen since World War II until the current one) made several bell ring when compared to what is happening in the Mediterranean as well. In effect it only proves the point Gil Loescher is making; focusing solely on supporting refugees and getting them home as fast as possible even if the conditions back home that caused their flights have not dramatically improved is short sighted and UNHCR needs to revamp it's original core objective of human rights.
Now I might give the impression Loescher is unrelenting critic dismissing the organisations efforts but that is not true at all. Loescher is adamant in her support for those UNHCR staff that have risked their lives in the field and is firm in her belief that UNHCR is one of the most idealist driven UN organisations. Several of UNHCR big successes are described in detail such as the Mozambique civil war crisis and return of refugees, the boat people of the 1970ties and the strong insistent defence of European refugees after world War II abandoned and rejected by all, the correct anticipation of upcoming independent former colonies and the need to be present in those regions (to escape the stigma of being the organisation for European refugees). But she also lists failures such as the Rwanda, Zaire refugees where they first refused to help Tutsi refugees and later supported Hutu refugees a significant number of whom had been part of the Rwanda genocide. The Bosnia and Kossovo crisis are spoken of in detail and how the successful PR campaign of UNHCR to be the number one humanitarian organisation involving refugees was a show of overconfidence when compared to it's actual capabilities as an organisation. Loescher is strict but not overly harsh in her judgment of UNHCR's handling of these situations, focusing on the various steps and turns that led UNHCR to the decisions it made rather then condemning the staff and persons involved. In fact it only makes those mistakes and the lives lost more tragic, for instance the organisation silence on the Indonesian purges in the 1960ties is undeniably linked to the silent approval or least toleration by western states of the Indonesian authorities actions (states that guaranteed UNHCR continued existence), or it's inaction during Biafra out of fear of appearing to choose a side (a fear that would return in Rwanda). The implicit comment being, If UNHCR had been more autonomous from it's funders it would have the freedom to pursue it's role as human rights protector fully.
As loescher put's it UNHCR has from the start faced an unsolvable dilemma, it is in it's core a rights defense organisation of people unwanted by the vast majority of governments in the world yet depended on those same governments for funding, access to refugees and implementation of the rights they defend. This paradox is the core concept that has pushed UNHCR development as an organisation and made it turn away from that historical core to be an organisation that keeps refugees manageable in camps to be returned as soon as possible from whence they came. The individual rights approach changed into a mass material support approach. The pragmatic has replaced the original ideals when it comes to the raison dêtre of the organisation and that has had a lot of consequences for the organisation and refugees world wide.
It is an ambitious book to say the least but it pulled it off, give it a read if you are interested in refugees and to get a long term perspective on the current European, Sahel refugee crisis.
September 28, 2013
This book is one of the ideal introductions to the refugee studies. With the previous High Commissioners at the core (from the 1st, Gerrit Jan van Heuven Goedhart, to the 8th, Sadako Ogata), it explains the development of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and various refugee crises. Especially, the last chapter insightfully provides detailed analyses of the UNHCR's challenges of the future.
Thanks to the way of writing, it was pretty easy to read from cover to cover. Moreover, using concrete examples of refugee crises makes this book easily understood by even beginners of the studies. I think the author also describes the role of the UNHCR in the international relations very well, by use of the relations between the High Commissioners and the UN or some great powers like the US. Only one downside is that the protracted refugee crises, such as Vietnamese boat people, appear in several chapters (but there is no choice because of the style). All in all, this book should be highly recommended for all people interested in the international refugee issues and the UNHCR.
Thanks to the way of writing, it was pretty easy to read from cover to cover. Moreover, using concrete examples of refugee crises makes this book easily understood by even beginners of the studies. I think the author also describes the role of the UNHCR in the international relations very well, by use of the relations between the High Commissioners and the UN or some great powers like the US. Only one downside is that the protracted refugee crises, such as Vietnamese boat people, appear in several chapters (but there is no choice because of the style). All in all, this book should be highly recommended for all people interested in the international refugee issues and the UNHCR.
May 11, 2007
An incredibly useful book for my paper (wish I had found it earlier!) but its also really interesting - its basically tells the story of the development of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees through its various High Commissioners and their dealings with refugee crises.
If anyone is interested in HR, refugee stuff, the UN (its really critical of the UNHCR - in a constructive way!) ... this is for you! Easy to read too!
If anyone is interested in HR, refugee stuff, the UN (its really critical of the UNHCR - in a constructive way!) ... this is for you! Easy to read too!
September 14, 2008
best book on unhcr and its role on the world stage in 90s
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews