Origins of a Global Humanitarian Organization
Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) and the 1956 Hungarian Refugees
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Abstract
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, actually a huge global organization, was established with only 34 employees, in order to resolute the problem of the European displaced by World War II. The author points out that the participation of the UNHCR in the solution of the 1956 Hungarian refugee crisis considerably influenced its subsequent history and contributed to becoming a global institution. The paper – based on international archival research – presents the activity of the UNHCR in favour of the Hungarians fleeing from the suppressed revolution, the evolution of its international recognition in relation with this action, and how its purview was consequently widened.