The Process of Implementing the Idea of Refugee Resettlement as a Permanent Solution to the Global Refugee Protection regime (1921–1946)

Abstract

There are many approaches to solving the problems of millions of refugees and asylum seekers in current debates. The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees distinguishes three durable solutions for refugees. The first is voluntary repatriation, the second is local integration, and the third is resettlement in a third country when returning home or remaining in the host country is impossible. The purpose of this article is to attempt to answer two general questions. First, under what circumstances did the international community integrate the resettlement concept into the evolving international protection system between 1921 and 1946? Second, does the operationalisation of the concept allow resettlement to be considered a viable and effective instrument of the contemporary model of international refugee protection and, in particular, as a means of achieving ‘durable solutions’ to refugee situations? The research used a historical-legal method. It has made it possible to identify which historical events played a crucial role in the development of the institution of resettlement, which elements of a given political and social reality determined

its normative model and mode of application, or what shape the institution took at ‘historical turning points’ such as the First and Second World Wars or the so-called Cold War. The above findings are based on the positions of the leading international humanitarian organisations on the refugee ‘problem’ and how to deal with it. These included the League of Nations commissions and committees and the Intergovernmental Committee on Refugees, followed by the United Nations Relief and Reconstruction Administration and the International Refugee Organisation. Consistently the article is divided into two parts. The first covers the period of the League of Nations and the first attempts to implement the idea of resettlement as a permanent solution to the plight of refugees; the second deals with initiatives to address the ‘problem’ of refugees and displaced persons after the end of the Second World War.

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