International > Report on the work of the High Commission for Refugees presented by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen to the fourth Assembly

[Distributed to the Council, the
Members of the League and the
Delegates at the Assembly.]
LEAGUE OF NATIONS
LN tU .ZilL)
A. 30. 1923. XII.
Geneva,
September 4th, 1923.
Report on the Work of the High Commission for Refugees
presented by Dr. Fridtjof Nansen to the Fourth Assembly.
SUMMARY.
1. Russian Refugees.
It may be useful, before entering into the details of the work accomplished by the High
Commission since the last Assembly, to give a short general survey of the duties with which
the High Commission has been charged from time to time by the Assembly and the Council
and of the results obtained.
It will be remembered that, during the latter part of 1921, the High Commission was
established to deal with the problems raised by the presence of more than one and a-half
million Russian refugees scattered throughout Europe. The majority of these refugees
were destitute, and their situation was rendered still more serious by the fact that most
of them had no passports, or only possessed passports that were recognised by very few
Governments. It was because the individual Governments found it impossible by indepen¬
dent action to deal with the problem of these refugees that the League was requested to
interest itself in their welfare.
Thanks to the co-operation afforded to the High Commission by the Governments
interested in the refugee question, and to the valuable support of many private relief or¬
ganisations, it has been possible to effect a very substantial improvement in the situation
of the refugees, although the general economic depression prevailing throughout Europe
has up to the present rendered impossible a complete solution of the problem.
It was recognised from the outset that the problem presented two distinct phases, one
being of a transitory nature and consisting of hospitality in various countries, and the
other the permanent solution by repatriation to Russia if and when conditions in that coun¬
try became favourable. Substantial progress has been made in the transitory phase; no
fewer than 31 Governments, including Germany and Mexico, have recognised the model
identity certificate for Russian refugees recommended by the High Commission. As a
matter of fact, of all the countries interested in the Russian refugee problem only China
and Turkey have refrained from adopting the identity certificate system, but recent nego¬
tiations with the Governments of these two countries encourage the hope that they will not
long delay their adhesion to the system. The introduction of this system has not only
been of inestimable value to the refugees themselves, in releasing them substantially from
their disabilities as “ Staatenlose ”, but has been of considerable benefit to countries
where the refugees are concentrated in large numbers, by affording the refugees facilities
to travel to other countries where they either have prospects of employment or opportunities
to join friends.
The High Commission has in many other ways endeavoured to improve the material
welfare of the refugees. For example, the Constantinople problem, which, at the time of the
establishment of the High Commission, assumed very serious proportions, and was causing
very grave concern to the representatives of the Allied Powers, has been practically liqui¬
dated by means of the evacuation of more than 20,000 refugees to 45 different countries.
Constantinople has seen many tragedies, but it is difficult to believe that the catas¬
trophes of the past could have entailed such a sum of human misery as was produced by the
three successive refugee waves of Russians, Turks and Greeks.
These three separate hordes of miserable human beings, driven from their homes by the
fear of death, ravaged by epidemic diseases and deprived of their power of economic produc¬
tion, have since November 1920 descended upon Constantinople, which, under the Allied
occupation, offered at least security.
Constantinople, for hundreds of thousands of human beings, has been the first stage
of a long and always painful journey, which led, for those more fortunate ones who survived
its rigours, to a new beginning in other countries.
170,000 Russians, 75,000 Turks, 155,000 Greeks and Armenians — these figures give
some idea of the refugee problems which have had to be faced in Constantinople.
*. d. N. 100 (F) + 100 (A) (prov.) + 1S50 (F) + 1200 (A) 9/23 - Imp. Jent, S. A.