Refugees: A New Approach

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When Poul Harding, the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, informed a January meeting of the Permanent Representatives to the United Nations in Geneva that the amount required by his office to meet the General Program and Special Program costs was 550 million dollars for 1980, the listeners were stunned. When Dr. Harding enumer? ated the areas of need and the numbers of refugees requiring help, the statistics were mind blowing. It became obvious that the business of dealing with the world's refugees had become big business with the costs increasing almost daily.1 There are those who contend that the main function of any interna? tional body concerned with refugees should be identification of the causes which produce refugee populations with an eye toward the elimination of these determinants. A study of the refugee world during the last two decades will show that this is easier said than done. A more realistic approach would entail an examination of the methods used to cope with the refugee situations which have arisen over the last 20-30 years. When a refugee situation occurs the responsibility of the international community is to provide care and maintenance for the people in flight. It is the contention of this article that a research group should be convened to examine the office of the UNHCR, and to determine the possible need for an additional organization to cope with the dilemma of international refugees. Little attention has been paid by the governments comprising the Executive Committee of the UNHCR to the impact that the swelling refugee population has had on that organization. The heavy financial requirements necessary to meet the refugee problems of today, and uncertainty as to the measures to be undertaken and the staff to be employed has led to some inefficiency and ineffective? ness of the agency. The serious nature of this problem warrants a new, enlightened approach. Discussions on the international level might be based on working papers developed on the following fixed agenda items. 1) Historical and analytical reviews of major refugee problems occur-