Unpacking World Refugee Day: Humanitarian Governance and Human Rights Practice?

Journal article

Sandvik, Kristin Bergtora (2010) Unpacking World Refugee Day: Humanitarian Governance and Human Rights Practice?, Journal of Human Rights Practice 2 (2): 287–298.

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This review provides a contextual and critical account of World Refugee Day as it is staged by the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR). Through a process of homogenizing and de-politicizing experiences, UNHCR's World Refugee Day celebrations recast refugee agency as an extension of the organization's humanitarian efforts. At the same time, these celebrations reflect UNHCR's struggle to navigate the tension between the ideal of global community and its own role in governing the increasingly strict spatial divisions between regions, nations and groups.