United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration


United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

(UNRRA), organization founded (1943) during World War II to give aid to areas liberated from the Axis powers. There were finally 52 participating countries, each of which contributed funds amounting to 2% of its national income in 1943. A sum of nearly $4 billion was expended on various types of emergency aid, including distribution of food and medicine and restoration of public services and of agriculture and industry. China, Czechoslovakia, Greece, Italy, Poland, the Ukrainian SSR, and Yugoslavia were the chief beneficiaries. UNRRA returned some 7 million displaced persons to their countries of origin and provided camps for about 1 million refugees unwilling to be repatriated. More than half the funds were provided by the United States, and the three directors general—Herbert H. Lehman, Fiorello La Guardia, and Gen. Lowell Rooks—were American. UNRRA discontinued its operations in Europe on June 30, 1947. Its remaining work, chiefly in China, ended on Mar. 31, 1949. The functions of UNRRA were transferred to other UN agencies, chiefly the International Refugee OrganizationInternational Refugee Organization
(IRO), temporary agency of the United Nations, established in 1946. In arranging for the care and the repatriation or resettlement of Europeans made homeless by World War II, the organization brought to a conclusion part of the work of the
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, the Food and Agriculture OrganizationFood and Agriculture Organization
(FAO), specialized agency of the United Nations, established in 1945. Its headquarters is in Rome, and it has a number of regional, subregional, and liaison offices around the world.
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, and the United Nations Children's FundUnited Nations Children's Fund
(UNICEF), a specialized fund of the United Nations. It was established in 1946 as the United Nations International Children's Emergency Fund, and became a permanent part of the United Nations in 1953, when it acquired its current name (but retained
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.

United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration

 

(UNRRA), an international organization established during World War II by the member-states of the anti-Hitler coalition to provide aid for the populace of the countries liberated from German fascist and Japanese occupation.

The treaty creating UNRRA was signed Nov. 9, 1943, in Washington by representatives of 44 states: the Commonwealth of Australia, Belgium, Bolivia, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, Costa Rica, Cuba, Czechoslovakia, the Dominican Republic, Ecuador, Egypt, El Salvador, Ethiopia, France, Great Britain, Greece, Guatemala, Haiti, Honduras, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Liberia, Luxembourg, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Panama, Paraguay, Peru, the Philippines, Poland, the Union of South Africa, Uruguay, the USA, the USSR, Venezuela, and Yugoslavia. The Byelorussian and Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republics and Denmark were admitted to UNRRA in August 1945, and Turkey in March 1946. In early 1947 the US and British governments, unwilling to provide aid on the basis of international cooperation, brought about the disbandment of UNRRA.

PUBLICATION

Pravda. Nov. 14, 1943, no. 281.