This regime comprises of the 1951 Geneva Convention relating to the status of Refugees together with its principle administering agency "the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees. Together with other hybrid of international agencies, national governments and voluntary international nongovernmental organizations, the UNHCR has positioned itself to fulfil its mandate and obligations to refugees in spite of all odds.
The Origins of the international Refugee Regime - 1920's.
It is generally believed in the academic circle and among scholars that the international refugee protection regime started in the twentieth century. This is because this century marked the era and the beginning of the most elaborate, collaborative, international effort aimed at raising concern for the plight of refugees. This is significant because although refugee crisis is in a sense a phenomenon that has become synonymous with conflict-afflicted societies for quite some, never have the refugees around the globe received international protection. Europe was for instance bedeviled in 16th and 17th centuries by religious persecution and so most refugees then were people fleeing persecution for religious reasons. During this period, other countries received these refugees especially where there were religious affinity, ideological belief systems and sometimes for economic reasons. But these religious persecutions gradually faded as most people in Europe became more politically sensitive with strong political affiliations and tenacious resistance to their new revolutionary style governments. These revolutionary style governments were seen in countries like France, Germany, Poland and Russia. Their attempts at radically revolutionize their various countries led to the emergence of new kind of political upheaval that produced political refugees of the 19th century.
Eastern Europe and the Balkans witnessed an unprecedented change in the nature and scale of international armed conflicts, in the unprecedented collapse of its established blocs and multi-ethnic empires in a manner that reflected in and influenced by the continued change and advances in technological and scientific innovations.
