Activity of the international community in Europe after the Second World War within the scope of the International Refugee Organization as a model of the aid action towards refugees

The International Refugee Organization (IRO) was the first specialized agency created by the United Nations. It operated between 1947 and 1951 and had under its mandate the masses of displaced persons (DPs) and refugees remaining outside of their countries of origin in the immediate post-war context. The purpose of this paper is to describe the main fields of activity of the IRO and to point out those aspects of its action that could be an inspiration for the future activities of the international community towards the resolution of the refugees issue in a changed contemporary context of this problem. The author claims that as the activity of IRO was the suitable and efficient way to solve the DPs and refugees problem at the time of the crisis connected with the massive presence of refugees, it merits a deeper examination as a temporary instrument of the international community also nowadays, during such critical periods.