Editing International Refugee Organization

{{Short description|Intergovernmental humanitarian organization (1946–1952)}}
{{Use British English|date=July 2016}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2016}}

{{Infobox United Nations
| image = Emblem of the United Nations.svg
| image_size = 120px
| name = International Refugee Organization
| map = 
| map_caption = 
| predecessor = [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]]
| successor = [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]]
| type = [[List of specialized agencies of the United Nations|UN specialized agency]]
| abbreviation = IRO
| leader_title = Head
| leader_name = 
| status = Inactive
| formation = {{start date and age|1946|4|20|df=yes}}
| headquarters = 
| website = 
| parent_organization = [[United Nations]]
| footnotes = 
}}

The '''International Refugee Organization''' ('''IRO''') was an [[intergovernmental organization]] founded on 20 April 1946 to deal with the massive refugee problem created by [[World War II]]. A Preparatory Commission began operations fourteen months previously. In 1948, the treaty establishing the IRO formally entered into force and the IRO became a [[United Nations]] [[list of specialized agencies of the United Nations|specialized agency]]. The IRO assumed most of the functions of the earlier [[United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration]]. In 1952, operations of the IRO ceased, and it was replaced by the Office of the [[United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]] (UNHCR).

The '''Constitution of the International Refugee Organization''', adopted by the [[United Nations General Assembly]] on 15 December 1946, is the founding document of the IRO. The constitution specified the organization's field of operations. Controversially, the constitution defined "persons of German ethnic origin" who had been expelled, or were to be expelled from their countries of birth into the postwar Germany, as individuals who would "not be the concern of the Organization."<ref name= "1950_hearings">{{cite book| others = United States Senate| date = March 1950| title = Hearings Before the Subcommittee on Amendments to the Displaced Persons Act of the Committee of the Judiciary| location = Washington DC| publisher = US Government Printing Office}}</ref> This excluded from its purview a group that exceeded in number all the other European displaced persons put together. Also, because of disagreements between the Western allies and the Soviet Union, the IRO only worked in areas controlled by Western armies of occupation.<ref>Louise W. Holborn, ''The International Refugee Organization: a specialized agency of the United Nations, its history and work, 1946–1952'' (Oxford UP, 1956.  1956) [https://archive.org/details/internationalref0000holb online]  </ref>

Twenty-six states became members of the IRO and it formally came into existence in 1948: Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Republic of China, Chile, Denmark, the Dominican Republic, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Iceland, Italy, Liberia, Luxembourg, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Panama, Peru, the Philippines, Switzerland, the United Kingdom, the United States, and Venezuela. The U.S. provided about 40% of the IRO's $155 million annual budget. The total contribution by the members for the five years of operation was around $400 million. It had rehabilitated around 10 million people during this time, out of 15 million people who were stranded in Europe. The IRO's first Director-General was William Hallam Tuck, succeeded by J. Donald Kingsley on 31 July 1949.<ref>''Encyclopaedia Britannica'': [https://www.britannica.com/topic/International-Refugee-Organization-historical-UN-agency International Refugee Organization].</ref><ref>[https://www.loc.gov/law/help/us-treaties/bevans/m-ust000004-0284.pdf Constitution of the International Refugee Organization]</ref>

IRO closed its operations on 31 January 1952 and after a liquidation period, went out of existence on 30 September 1953. By that time many of its responsibilities had been assumed by other agencies. Of particular importance was the [[Office of the High Commissioner for Refugees]], established in January 1951 as a part of the United Nations, and the [[Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration]] (originally PICMME), set up in December 1951. <ref>{{Cite web |url=https://archives.un.org/sites/archives.un.org/files/files/Finding%20Aids/2015_Finding_Aids/AG-018-007.pdf |title=Summary of AG-018-007 International Refugee Organization (IRO) |access-date=22 December 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160330235321/https://archives.un.org/sites/archives.un.org/files/files/Finding%20Aids/2015_Finding_Aids/AG-018-007.pdf |archive-date=30 March 2016 |url-status=dead }}</ref>

==Filmography==
* ''[[The Search]]'' by [[Fred Zinnemann]] (1948): The IRO helped the producers to make this story about children refugees, in 1945 Germany.

==See also==
* [[First session of the United Nations General Assembly]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Holborn, Louise W. ''The International Refugee Organization: a specialized agency of the United Nations, its history and work, 1946–1952'' (Oxford UP, 1956.  1956) [https://archive.org/details/internationalref0000holb online]
* Holborn, Louise W. Philip Chartrand, and Rita Chartrand. ''Refugees, a problem of our time: the work of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees, 1951-1972'' (Scarecrow Press, 1975).

==External links==
* Records of [https://search.archives.un.org/international-refugee-organization-iro-9 the International Refugee Organization (IRO)] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20221122051209/https://search.archives.un.org/international-refugee-organization-iro-9 |date=22 November 2022 }} at the United Nations Archives
* [http://avalon.law.yale.edu/20th_century/decad053.asp Constitution of the International Refugee Organisation]
* Original, complete constitution of the IRO, assigned by the [[Government of the United Kingdom]]: https://treaties.un.org/doc/Publication/UNTS/Volume%2018/v18.pdf
* [http://www.search-people.at.ua/publ/information_about_piotr_bozyk_1945_1949/2_1948_4_1949_piotr_bozyk_policeman_iro_area_vocational_training_school_ingolstadt_bavaria/policeman_iro_area_vocational_training_school_ingolstadt_bavaria_germany_1948/33-1-0-1 IRO. Area Vocational Training School. Ingolstadt, Bavaria, Germany 1948]

{{ECOSOC}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:United Nations specialized agencies]]
[[Category:Organizations established in 1946]]
[[Category:Refugee aid organizations]]
[[Category:Displaced persons camps in the aftermath of World War II|*]]
[[Category:United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees]]
[[Category:Intergovernmental organizations established by treaty]]
[[Category:Organizations disestablished in 1952]]