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Refugee Survey Quarterly 2008 27(1):45-57; doi:10.1093/rsq/hdn006
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© UNHCR [2008]. All rights reserved. For Permissions, please email: journals.permissions@oxfordjournals.org

UNHCR and the Afghan Refugees in the Early 1980s: Between Humanitarian Action and Cold War Politics

Rüdiger Schöch*

* Researcher in the joint project "UNHCR and the Global Cold War" of UNHCR, the Graduate Institute of International Studies, Geneva, and the Geneva Centre for Security Policy.


  Abstract

This article examines the UNHCR operation in Pakistan during the Soviet occupation of Afghanistan as a case study for the tension between UNHCR's strictly humanitarian mandate and the diverging interests of states. After situating the Afghan refugee crisis in the broader historical context of the Cold War, it analyses a number of documents from the UNHCR archives with a focus on the humanitarian principles that guide UNHCR's work on the one hand, and the influence of states and their political, economic, or military objectives on the UNHCR's operation on the other. It concludes that UNHCR was aware of the negative impact of states’ policies and actions on the humanitarian nature of its operation. However, due to the power difference between UNHCR and its members states as well as states hosting its operations, UNHCR had to accept these negative effects in order to assure minimum assistance and protection for the Afghan refugees in need.


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