The Refugee Convention and a Law of Asylum, 1951–1952

Abstract

This chapter examines critical developments of 1950–1953 at the international and national levels. In 1950, the United Nations appointed a High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) to replace the International Refugee Organisation (IRO). At the same time, the UN Economic and Social Council proposed the drafting of an international convention on the status of refugees. Facing the closure of the French Bureau of the IRO in 1950, the French government moved towards the establishment of a national refugee office (the OFPRA) to assume its functions. Both the drafting of the 1951 United Nations Convention on the Status of Refugees and the creation of the OFPRA stirred divisive debates about the nature of the international refugee regime and the future of refugee protection.