2020/01/01 by Sebastián Huhn, Huhn, Sebastian · 1 citation
Social Sciences · #Conflict, Peace, and Violence in Colombia #Crime, Illicit Activities, and Governance #DPs #Displaced Persons #International Refugee Organization #Migration #Resettlement #Venezuela #Venezuelan Migration and Society
paper · pdf · doi:10.12759/hsr.45.2020.4.203-225
openalex publication_date 2020/01/01 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
After the end of World War II, millions of people were uprooted all over Europe. After realizing that many of those people did not want to return to their former places of origin, the United Nations founded the International Refugee Organization (IRO) to repatriate those displaced persons (DPs) who wanted to return home and to resettle refugees who did not in other countries. Venezuela was neither actively involved in World War II nor (at that time) in the approaching Cold War. Nevertheless, this “third world” country became involved both in the political discussion about the international resettlement program and as the receiving country of 17,000 DPs. In this context, the paper asks who was resettled in Venezuela and in what way those people were able to influence and negotiate their resettlement in Venezuela. The paper thus focusses on the agency of DPs and the IRO’s decision-making processes in their European field offices.