The Nansen International Office for
Refugees, authorized by the League of Nations in the fall of
1930, began active operations on April 1, 1931. This office was
the successor of the first international agency dealing with
refugees, the High Commission for Refugees, established by the
League of Nations under the direction of Fridtjof Nansen (q.v.) on June
27, 1921.
In 1923, the original mandate of the High Commissioner to cover
Russian refugees was extended to include the Armenian refugees.
To begin with, the High Commission provided both material
assistance as well as legal and political protection to refugees.
In 1924 the International Labor Organization assumed
responsibility for material assistance, but five years later
retumcd this function to the High Commission. Meanwhile, as the
refugee problem broadened, the High Commissioner's mandate was
broadened to take in Assyrians, Assyro-Chaldeans, and Turkish
refugees.
After Nansen's death in May, 1930, and the later abolition of the
office of the High Commission for Refugees, the League
Secretariat assumed responsibility for the protection of the
refugees, and that for material assistance was vested in the
Nansen International Office for Refugees, an autonomous body
under the authority of the League.
The League provided administrative expenses for the Nansen Office
on a schedule diminishing yearly as the Office approached the end
of its mission on December 31, 1938. Its revenues for welfare and
relief were obtained from private contributions, but mainly from
fees charged for the «Nansen Certificate», an
international substitute for a passport, and from the proceeds of
the sale in France and Norway of stamps in aid of refugees.
The Nansen Office was beset by overwhelming problems during its
existence - among them, the lack of stable and adequate
financing; the onset of the depression which closed employment
opportunities for refugees; the decline of the prestige of the
League after the events of 1931 and 1935; the growing avalanche
of refugees, mostly from Germany, Italy, and Spain; and the
reluctance of member states of the League to permit League
activities on behalf of persons who had previously been citizens
of their countries.
The accomplishments of the Nansen Office include the adoption by
fourteen countries of the Refugee Convention of 1933, a modest
charter of human rights; the settlement of the Saar refugees in
Paraguay after 1935; the construction of villages to house
upwards of 40,000 Armenians in Syria and Lebanon and the
resettlement of another 10,000 in Erivan; and, most important,
the material, legal, and financial help given to almost a million
refugees.
The problem of German refugees after National Socialism came to
power in Germany became so acute in 1933 that the League
established a High Commission for Refugees Coming from Germany.
This Commission, whose mandate was later broadened to take in
both Austrian and Sudetenland refugees, was scheduled to be
dissolved on December 31, 1938, simultaneously with the Nansen
Office.
On that date both offices were, in fact, dissolved, and the next
day a new agency of the League of Nations, the Office of the High
Commissioner for Refugees under the Protection of the League was
opened, with headquarters in London.
Selected Bibliography |
Adams, Walter, «Extent and Nature of the World Refugee Problem», The Annals of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 203 (May, 1939) 26-36. |
Convention Relating to the Status of Refugees. Paris, Nansen Office for Refugees, 1938. |
Hansson, Michael, The Refugee Problem. London, League of Nations Union, 1938. |
Hansson, Michael, The Refugee Problem and the League of Nations. Conference held at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, Oslo, January 7, 1938. Geneva, 1938. |
Macartney, Carlile A., Refugees: The Work of the League. London, 1930. |
Nansen, Fridtjof, «Armenian Refugees», League of Nations Document C. 237. 1924. |
Nansen, Fridtjof, «Russian Refugees: General Report on the Work Accomplished up to March 15, 1922», League of Nations Document C. 124. M. 74. 1922. |
Nansen International Office for Refugees. Report by the Governing Body to the Twelfth Assembly of League of Nations [A.27. 1931.] See also Report by M. Michael Hansson, Former President of the Governing Body of the Nansen International Office for Refugees, on the Activities of the Office from July 1st to December 31st, 1938. [A. 19. 1939. xii] (1939. xii. B.2). |
Simpson, Sir John Hope, The Refugee Problem: Report of a Survey. London, 1939. |
«Statutes of Nansen International Office for Refugees as Approved by the Council on January 19th, 1931», League of Nations, Official Journal, February, 1931, pp. 309-311. |
See also selected bibliography for the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. |
From Nobel Lectures, Peace 1926-1950, Editor Frederick W. Haberman, Elsevier Publishing Company, Amsterdam, 1972
This text was first published in the book series Les Prix Nobel. It was later edited and republished in Nobel Lectures. To cite this document, always state the source as shown above.
Copyright © The Nobel Foundation 1938