hen delegates from 26 countries as
diverse as the United States, Israel and
Iraq gathered in the elegant Swiss city of
Geneva in 1951, they had some unfinished business to
attend to.
World War II had long since ended, but hundreds of
thousands of refugees still wandered aimlessly across
the European continent or squatted in makeshift camps.
The international community had, on several occasions
earlier in the century, established refugee organizations
and approved refugee conventions, but legal protection
and assistance remained rudimentary