Regulating Human Mobility through Networking and Outsourcing: icem, IOs and NGOs during the 1950s

Abstract

The Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration (icem) was founded in 1952 to manage the migration of migrants and refugees of European origin to overseas countries. Its foundation was part of the effort during the Post-war period to find supranational solutions to global problems and can be considered as the first to achieve ‘migration management’. icem was also part of the US propaganda mechanism during the Cold War aiming at proving the superiority of the ‘Free World’ to allocate human resources and streamlining the movement of refugees from Eastern Europe. To achieve this task icem collaborated closely with international organisations such as the ilo. At the same time, since its foundation it outsourced the process from registration to placement of immigrants and refugees to a series of national, international or religious voluntary organisations. The article tries to assess the process and the results of this collaboration during the first decade of icem’s operation.