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16 Global Governance 345 (2010)
The Historical Roots of Cooperation between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration

handle is hein.journals/glogo16 and id is 351 raw text is: Global Governance 16 (2010), 345-360 The Historical Roots of Cooperation Between the UN High Commissioner for Refugees and the International Organization for Migration Jr6me Elie When studying the institutional aspects of the global governance of refugee issues, scholars almost exclusively put the emphasis on the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, largely ignoring other organizations and the relationships established with these institutions. The aim of this article is to help fill this gap in the analysis by focusing on the historical roots of cooperation between UNHCR and the International Organization for Mi- gration. Despite the fact that this relationship has been at times charged with competition and suspicion, it has also been a vital factor in the refu- gee arena over the past sixty years. KEYWORDS: UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (ICEM), International Organization for Migration (1OM), cooperation, mi- grants, refugees, history. THE INTERACTION BETWEEN THE UN HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR REFUGEES (UNHCR) and the International Organization for Migration (IOM) is an im- portant aspect of the current institutional architecture responsible for provid- ing protection and assistance to refugees and migrants worldwide. This multifaceted relationship extends to various decisionmaking and operational levels and it has long been central to a number of important issue areas such as repatriation schemes and operations for internally displaced people. More- over, the relatively recent mixed migration concept has led the two agencies to strengthen their cooperation in discussing and tackling assistance and pro- tection challenges linked to mixed flows of refugees and migrants.' Such in- teractions build on a complex and often unappreciated history of cooperation, which needs to be better understood to comprehend the full potential for con- temporary cooperation between the two agencies. After World War II, two successive UN agencies were created to tackle the problems resulting from the displacement of people in Europe. The UN Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA), set up in 1943, was re- placed in 1947 by the International Refugee Organization (IRO). When the IRO reached the end of its three-year term, many uprooted persons remained in Eu- rope, and the related problems largely remained unresolved. The need to create 345

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