The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)

by Alexander Betts, Gil Loescher, James Milner

This revised and expanded second edition of The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) continues to offer a concise and comprehensive introduction to both the world of refugees and the organizations that protect and assist them. This updated edition also includes:


up to date coverage of the UNHCR 's most recent history and policy developments evaluation of new thinking on issues such as working in UN integrated operations and within the UN peacebuilding commission assessment of the UNHCR 's record of working for IDP 's (internally displaced persons) discussion of the politics of protection and its implications for the work of the UNHCR outline of the new challenges for the agency including environmental refugees, victims of natural disasters and survival migrants.
Written by experts in the field, this is one of the very few books to trace the relationship between state interests, global politics, and the work of the UNHCR. This book will appeal to students, scholars, practitioners, and readers with an interest in international relations.

Genres: Politics, History, Nonfiction

220 pages, Paperback

First published January 1, 2008

About the author

Alexander Betts is Professor of Forced Migration and International Affairs, William Golding Senior Fellow in Politics at Brasenose College, and Associate Head (Doctoral and Research Training) of the Social Science Division, at the University of Oxford. He served as Director of the Refugee Studies Centre between 2014 and 2017. His research focuses mainly on the political economy of refugee assistance, with a focus on Africa.

He is a World Economic Forum Young Global Leader, was named by Foreign Policy magazine in the top 100 global thinkers of 2016, and his TED talks have been viewed by over 3 million people. He has previously worked for UNHCR and has served as a Councillor on the World Refugee Council. His writings have appeared in the New York Times, the Washington Post, and the Guardian. He currently leads the IKEA Foundation-funded Refugee Economies Programme, which undertakes participatory research on the economic lives of refugees in Uganda, Kenya, and Ethiopia. He received his MPhil (with distinction) and DPhil from the University of Oxford.

Reviews

[Ietrio · Rating 1 out of 5]

Governmental bureaucrats, living an excellent life, do the best they can do to push more funds in their family's direction. Of course the refugees have an execrable life after decades of these paper pushers eating up so much money on travel and meetings, but "imagine how much worse would it be without them bureaucrats". Simply disgusting. Exploitation at its best.

[Lara Amro · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a UNCHR staff member, this book has been phenomenal for me to understand how that UNHCR became to existence the politics, the dynamics and the global politics that shaped it and its response around the world.
It also highlights the key high commissioners that shaped policies and the agencies response throughout history, making it the sole UN refugee agency.

[Serena]

Read for Asylum Seeker Policy unit at University.