Short Stories of Refugeedom: Encounters between Refugees, UNHCR, and the Australian Government, 1951–1975

Abstract

This article draws upon individual confidential case files compiled by the UN Office for Refugees (UNHCR) between 1951 and 1975 to examine its response to refugees who requested protection and to analyse policy and practice in Australia as a country of resettlement. Refugees who wrote complaining about conditions in Australia were deemed to be suffering from defects of “character.” Others faced the prospect of being removed on grounds that they posed a threat to public order. Although its mandate precluded getting involved in the internal affairs of a sovereign state, UNHCR nevertheless advocated with the Australian authorities on behalf of refugees who faced deportation. UNHCR also used the evidence of individual cases to press Australia to abandon its reservations vis-à-vis the 1951 UN Refugee Convention. By contextualising and examining the encounters between refugees, UNHCR, and Australia, this article provides an original perspective on policymaking in the international refugee regime and on modern refugeedom.