75 years

of helping people forced to flee

Photo: NTB

Photo: NTB

Refugees crossing the Sahela border between Syria and the Kurdistan region of Iraq in 2013.

More than 33,000 refugees crossed the Sahela border crossing between Syria and the Kurdistan region of Iraq in just five days in August 2013. Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC

More than 33,000 refugees crossed the Sahela border crossing between Syria and the Kurdistan region of Iraq in just five days in August 2013. Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC

After World War Two, Europe lay in ruins. Millions of people had been displaced from their homes. Norwegians mobilised a large-scale fundraising effort, channelled through Europahjelpen (“Aid to Europe”) – the predecessor of the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). For 75 years, we have been the extended arm of the Norwegian people in our work for the world’s refugees.

The decades following World War Two have been marked by various crises. These crises have influenced our work and our organisation. We have gone from being purely a fundraising campaign without employees, to one of the world’s largest humanitarian organisations working for displaced people. Join us on a pictorial journey through our history.

Today, 75 years on, there are millions who need your help. Support our work today.

GERMANY: Displaced families in a camp near Hannover in July 1946. Photo: DPA/NTB

FACSIMILE: Aftenposten’s morning edition, 24 May 1946.

GERMANY: Displaced families in a camp near Hannover in July 1946. Photo: DPA/NTB

FACSIMILE: Aftenposten’s morning edition, 24 May 1946.

1946

Europe in ruins

After World War Two, many of Europe’s cities lie in ruins. More than 20 million people are homeless and there are 15 million refugees.

Europahjelpen established

Europahjelpen, the predecessor of NRC, is established on 24 May 1946. This advert is placed in several Norwegian daily newspapers. In a short time, 4,000 tonnes of food are collected and sent to the most war-damaged countries in Europe.

FUNDRAISING: Here we see class 4C at Ullevål Primary School packing used toys for children affected by the war. Photo: NTB

OSLO: Refugees from Hungary arriving at Oslo’s Østbanen station in the late 1950s. Photo: Dagbladet/The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History

FUNDRAISING: Here we see class 4C at Ullevål Primary School packing used toys for children affected by the war. Photo: NTB

OSLO: Refugees from Hungary arriving at Oslo’s Østbanen station in the late 1950s. Photo: Dagbladet/The Norwegian Museum of Cultural History

The 1950s

Major fundraising campaigns and the Cold War

In 1951, the UN Refugee Convention is established to find a solution to the refugee crisis in Europe. During this decade, the acute phase of emergency relief gradually diminishes, but there is still a refugee problem, and the Cold War leads to new displacements.


Norway continues to help. Here we see class 4C at Ullevål Primary School packing used toys for European children affected by the war.

The Hungarian Revolution

Work on solving refugee problems in Europe is coming to an end when the Hungarian Revolution breaks out in October 1956. In the months that follow, 200,000 Hungarians flee to the West and emergency support services are put on high alert.


More than 1,500 Hungarian refugees come to Norway in the winter of 1956–57. Europahjelpen becomes the Norwegian Refugee Council and is given a two-part task: to help refugees around the world and to help refugees in Norway. In terms of both domestic and international activities, our support for Hungarian refugees is our most important sphere of work at the end of this decade.

Fundraising record

When the UN General Assembly declares 1959–60 as World Refugee Year, fundraising campaigns are launched to support the final dismantling of the European refugee camps.

FUNDRAISING: Poster from the fundraising campaign in connection with the World Refugee Year 1959–1960. Photo: NRC

In Norway, NRC leads the fundraising work, and the Norwegian people collect NOK 15 million over the course of the year – a world record in relation to the country’s population.

Today, 75 years on, there are millions who need your help. Support our work today.

FUNDRAISING: Poster from the fundraising campaign in connection with the World Refugee Year 1959–1960. Photo: NRC

FUNDRAISING: Poster from the fundraising campaign in connection with the World Refugee Year 1959–1960. Photo: NRC

THE VIETNAM WAR (1957–1975) created a great deal of engagement worldwide. It’s estimated that more than two million people were killed in Vietnam during the war and another half a million in Laos and Cambodia. Photo: The Granger Collection/NTB

PALESTINE: Palestinian refugee children receive help with education. Photo: UNESCO/Dominique Roger/Wikimedia Commons

THE VIETNAM WAR (1957–1975) created a great deal of engagement worldwide. It’s estimated that more than two million people were killed in Vietnam during the war and another half a million in Laos and Cambodia. Photo: The Granger Collection/NTB

PALESTINE: Palestinian refugee children receive help with education. Photo: UNESCO/Dominique Roger/Wikimedia Commons

The 1960s

National liberation wars and international solidarity

The national liberation wars in former colonies during the 1950s and 1960s lead to millions of new refugees, while 80 former colonies gain their independence. In the Western world, a new generation is beginning to talk about international solidarity and responsibility towards the “Third World”. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees states that the time has come to lift our eyes to the rest of the world. During this decade, a total of 223 refugees come to Norway.


NRC carries out a number of major fundraising campaigns, and information about displacement issues is given more space. Humanitarian aid efforts are directed at the Middle East, Asia and Africa. Education for Palestinian refugees becomes a major issue, and Chinese refugees in Hong Kong, Tibetans in India and Nepal, and Algerians fleeing a bloody war of independence are among those who receive help.

Palestine

As early as the 1950s, the Palestinians are one of the world’s largest refugee groups. By the mid-1960s, 900,000 Palestinians are dependent on UN food aid. The Six-Day War of 1967 leads to further displacement and suffering.


NRC conducts humanitarian aid work on both sides of the conflict. Education for Palestinian refugees is one of our main concerns, but we also support a school for Jewish immigrants to Israel.

WOOLLEN BLANKETS: The result of the Algeria fundraising campaign in 1962: 150,000 woollen blankets are loaded in the port of Oslo. Photo: NRC

Algeria

The Algerian War of Independence breaks out in 1954. It is estimated that the war claimed 1.5 million lives, and it is considered the bloodiest national liberation war in Africa. By the end of the war, eight years later, more than three million Algerians have been displaced from their homes.


The woollen blanket fundraiser for Algerian refugees in 1962 is our first humanitarian response to emergency needs created by decolonisation and national liberation conflicts in the so-called Third World. The fundraising campaign provides 100,000 woollen blankets before winter in North Africa.

TIBETAN AID: The first Tibetan refugee youths arrive in Oslo in 1964 to receive an education in Gjøvik. Photo: NTB

Tibetan Aid

China’s occupation of Tibet in 1950, and the uprising in the Tibetan capital Lhasa in 1959, forces nearly 100,000 Tibetans to flee to India and Nepal. Among these is the Dalai Lama.


The situation of the Tibetan refugees receives a great deal of attention in Norway. Together with Tibetan Aid, NRC helps to bring 40 Tibetan young people to Norway to get an education.

WOOLLEN BLANKETS: The result of the Algeria fundraising campaign in 1962: 150,000 woollen blankets are loaded in the port of Oslo. Photo: NRC

WOOLLEN BLANKETS: The result of the Algeria fundraising campaign in 1962: 150,000 woollen blankets are loaded in the port of Oslo. Photo: NRC

TIBETAN AID: The first Tibetan refugee youths arrive in Oslo in 1964 to receive an education in Gjøvik. Photo: NTB

TIBETAN AID: The first Tibetan refugee youths arrive in Oslo in 1964 to receive an education in Gjøvik. Photo: NTB

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: Vietnamese refugees are rescued in the South China Sea by the crew of the Norwegian cargo ship Lysekil. Photo: Erik Berglund/Aftenposten/NTB

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: Vietnamese refugees to Norway. Two family groups of 18 people arrive at Fornebu Airport and are met by NRC’s Secretary General Wilhelm Bøe. Photo: Oddvar Walle Jensen NTB

OSLO: Students demonstrate and burn flags outside the Chilean embassy in Oslo in May 1974. Photo: Rolf M. Aagaard/NTB

ROYAL PATRON: King Olav was sincerely and deeply committed to the refugee cause. Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn/NTB

TV-AKSJONEN 1979: Crown Princess Sonja visits refugees in a camp in Thailand. Photo: Rolf M. Aagaard/Aftenposten/NTB

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: Vietnamese refugees are rescued in the South China Sea by the crew of the Norwegian cargo ship Lysekil. Photo: Erik Berglund/Aftenposten/NTB

VIETNAMESE BOAT PEOPLE: Vietnamese refugees to Norway. Two family groups of 18 people arrive at Fornebu Airport and are met by NRC’s Secretary General Wilhelm Bøe. Photo: Oddvar Walle Jensen NTB

OSLO: Students demonstrate and burn flags outside the Chilean embassy in Oslo in May 1974. Photo: Rolf M. Aagaard/NTB

ROYAL PATRON: King Olav was sincerely and deeply committed to the refugee cause. Photo: Bjørn Sigurdsøn/NTB

TV-AKSJONEN 1979: Crown Princess Sonja visits refugees in a camp in Thailand. Photo: Rolf M. Aagaard/Aftenposten/NTB

The 1970s

New refugee crises

At the end of the decade, the number of refugees to Norway increases dramatically. A total of 1,680 refugees come to Norway in 1978–79. The main groups are the so-called “Vietnamese boat people”, and political refugees from the coup in Chile.


NRC is responsible for the reception and integration of refugees to Norway throughout this decade.

Vietnamese boat people

People from South Vietnam flee in large numbers in simple boats after the fall of Saigon, which ends the Vietnam War in 1975. These “Vietnamese boat people” also constitute the main group of refugees to Norway in the late 1970s. Most have been picked up by Norwegian ships.


Of the 1,680 refugees who come to Norway in 1978–79, over 1,300 are from Vietnam. NRC is responsible for their reception and integration. Today, about 23,000 people of Vietnamese descent live in Norway.

The Chilean coup d’état

Chile’s democratically elected president, Salvador Allende, is overthrown and killed in a bloody US-backed coup d’état on 11 September 1973. The military junta, led by General Augusto Pinochet, kills more than 3,000 people, and nearly one million Chileans flee the country.


During the first years of Augusto Pinochet’s dictatorship, Norway receives almost 400 political refugees from Chile. NRC is responsible for their reception and integration.

Also read the story of Chilean Alfredo Zamudio who came to Norway as a refugee in 1976.

The royal family gets involved

In 1970, HM King Olav V of Norway becomes NRC’s royal patron. Four years later, Crown Princess Sonja leads the first TV fundraiser, which raises a total of NOK 23 million. This is a world record in terms of the amount of money raised per capita.


In his New Year’s speech the same year, King Olav says: “I would like to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the donors to the Norwegian Refugee Council and all its supporters, including, to my delight, my daughter-in-law.” The king has long had a warm place in his heart for refugees, having received the Nansen Prize in 1961 for his efforts.

Crown Princess Sonja and TV charity fundraising events

Crown Princess Sonja is the organisation’s royal patron and also sits on the committee for NRK’s charity fundraising event TV-aksjonen Refugee-79. In the photo above, she is visiting Cambodian refugees in Thailand. At the end of the 1970s, there are about 240,000 refugees in Thailand, mainly from Vietnam, but also from Cambodia and Laos.


Three major fundraising campaigns in the 1970s lay the financial foundation for our international work.

BAND AID: In the autumn of 1984, the Irish rock singer Bob Geldof launches Band Aid, which brings together a number of the UK’s leading recording artists. Photo: REX/NTB

ETHIOPIA: Hungry families from Ethiopia in a food queue. This becomes a familiar image of the distress that affects large parts of the continent during this decade. Photo: REX/NTB

FORCED TO FLEE: The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 forced millions to flee their homes. Here, a family has sought refuge in a camp for internally displaced people near the border with Pakistan. AP Photo: AP/NTB

GUATEMALA: A malnourished woman fleeing Guatemala receives treatment in a hospital in Mexico. Photo: AP/Pat Hamilton/NTB

THAILAND: Cambodians in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1979. Photo: AP/Mangkorn/NTB

BAND AID: In the autumn of 1984, the Irish rock singer Bob Geldof launches Band Aid, which brings together a number of the UK’s leading recording artists. Photo: REX/NTB

ETHIOPIA: Hungry families from Ethiopia in a food queue. This becomes a familiar image of the distress that affects large parts of the continent during this decade. Photo: REX/NTB

FORCED TO FLEE: The Soviet invasion of Afghanistan in 1979 forced millions to flee their homes. Here, a family has sought refuge in a camp for internally displaced people near the border with Pakistan. AP Photo: AP/NTB

GUATEMALA: A malnourished woman fleeing Guatemala receives treatment in a hospital in Mexico. Photo: AP/Pat Hamilton/NTB

THAILAND: Cambodians in a refugee camp in Thailand in 1979. Photo: AP/Mangkorn/NTB

The 1980s

From emergency aid to lasting solutions

The decade is marked by the great humanitarian needs of Vietnamese refugees in South-East Asia and Afghans fleeing the Soviet invasion, in addition to the massive influx of refugees in Sudan, Guatemala and El Salvador. During the 1980s, the number of refugees rises to 17 million worldwide. By 1982, the number of refugees coming to Norway has increased dramatically and reception capacity is overburdened.


In 1982, the Norwegian government takes over all tasks related to receiving and integrating refugees in Norway, and NRC concentrates all its efforts on helping refugees around the world. By the end of the decade, we have projects in 20 countries, and emergency relief work takes on a more long-term character, with a focus on lasting solutions and helping people to become self-sufficient.

Today, 75 years on, there are millions who need your help. Support our work today.

Focus on Africa

The national liberation wars, the legacy of colonial rule, political instability and prolonged drought in many African countries mean that half of the world’s refugees are now on the African continent. Several years of drought lead to famine, while also increasing the pressure on those countries that have granted asylum to refugees.


NRC sets up offices in Kenya’s capital Nairobi and start humanitarian aid work in Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Tanzania and Sudan. At the end of the decade, we move our regional office in Nairobi to Malawi to assist refugees from Mozambique.

Displaced Afghans

Within a few years of the Soviet Union’s invasion of Afghanistan in 1979, Pakistan has granted asylum to the world’s largest total refugee population, numbering 3.5 million. A few million people have also fled to Iran and a large number are displaced within Afghanistan itself.


As one of the first international aid organisations, NRC begins providing emergency aid for these refugees in 1979. We understand that this will become a long-term effort and establish our own office in Pakistan. In collaboration with three partner organisations, we ensure that the refugees receive medicine, health care, food, blankets, tents, education and vocational training.

Civil wars and violence in Latin America

In Latin America, the refugee situation takes a serious turn in the 1980s. The civil wars in El Salvador and Guatemala displace more than one million people, mainly within the region.


In 1986, we set up an office in Costa Rica, and during the 1980s, a third of all our activities takes place in Latin America. Our relief efforts focus mainly on enabling displaced people to support themselves.

Thailand – a host country

The wars in Indochina over the previous two decades have forced Thailand to become a host country for large numbers of refugees. At the beginning of the 1980s, there are about 240,000 refugees in Thailand – mainly from Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.


NRC distributes food, helps to construct hospitals, and provides education, health care, clean water and better sanitary conditions. In addition, we help with the integration of refugees in Thailand and provide assistance to refugees from Laos who want to return to their home country.

FORCED TO FLEE: Kurds flee Saddam Hussain’s government forces in Iraq in 1991. Photo: NTB

NORCAP: Rolf Moi is one of the first people to be deployed on behalf of NRC’s global provider of expertise. This photo is from a mission to Afghanistan in 1992. Photo: Private

THE BALKANS: Emergency aid convoys in the former Yugoslavia are one of our main activities in the 1990s. From left to right: NRC’s team leader Lars Tangen, UNHCR’s operations manager Enda Savage and convoy chief George Hadrick. Photo: Aleksander Nordahl/NTB

GEORGIA: An elderly Chechen woman with a baby on her lap has sought refuge in the Pankisi Valley in Georgia. Photo: Shakh Aivazov/AP/NTB

RWANDA: Thousands flee the ethnic massacres in Rwanda in 1994. Photo: Karsten Thielker/AP/NTB

FORCED TO FLEE: Kurds flee Saddam Hussain’s government forces in Iraq in 1991. Photo: NTB

NORCAP: Rolf Moi is one of the first people to be deployed on behalf of NRC’s global provider of expertise. This photo is from a mission to Afghanistan in 1992. Photo: Private

THE BALKANS: Emergency aid convoys in the former Yugoslavia are one of our main activities in the 1990s. From left to right: NRC’s team leader Lars Tangen, UNHCR’s operations manager Enda Savage and convoy chief George Hadrick. Photo: Aleksander Nordahl/NTB

GEORGIA: An elderly Chechen woman with a baby on her lap has sought refuge in the Pankisi Valley in Georgia. Photo: Shakh Aivazov/AP/NTB

RWANDA: Thousands flee the ethnic massacres in Rwanda in 1994. Photo: Karsten Thielker/AP/NTB

The 1990s

New wars and many people displaced within their own countries

Africa is still the great refugee continent. Angola and Mozambique offer hope, but in several western and central African countries the situation is getting worse. Meanwhile, as the conflicts in El Salvador and Guatemala gradually come to an end, the armed conflict in Colombia escalates. Following the Gulf War in 1990 and the wars in the Balkans from 1991 onwards, the need for international aid explodes. In 1995, the total number of refugees and internally displaced people in the world is estimated at 45 million.


NRC withdraws from several countries where the refugee crises are subsiding, and concentrates its activities on four areas: Vietnam, Mozambique/Malawi, Afghanistan and Latin America. In 1994, we start humanitarian aid work for internally displaced people within Colombia and Colombian refugees in neighbouring countries. We also launch relief efforts in the former Yugoslavia, the Caucasus and Angola. In addition, we establish a global provider of expertise, called NORCAP.

Increased emergency preparedness

At the beginning of the 1990s, a number of wars and humanitarian crises, including in the Middle East and the Balkans, create an enormous need for humanitarian personnel.


In 1991, NRC establishes its own global provider of expertise, NORCAP, which consists of experts who can move out at short notice to assist various UN organisations in crisis situations.

The Balkans are burning

The dissolution of the former Yugoslavia, and the wars that follow in its wake, create enormous distress and suffering. Hundreds of thousands of people are displaced from their homes.


At the request of the UN, in 1992, NRC provides 35 people and 20 lorries to transport food, medicine and other emergency aid equipment to people fleeing the war in the former Yugoslavia. The transport assignment is the largest operation that NRC has ever been involved in. We also provide shelter and water, and organise health services for thousands of refugees. About half of the organisation’s total activity in 1995 is related to operations in the former Yugoslavia.

The wars in the Caucasus

The dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991 leads to a series of wars in the Caucasus region, and hundreds of thousands are displaced from the four former Soviet republics of Chechnya, Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan.


In 1994, we set up an office in Tbilisi and start humanitarian aid work in Georgia, Armenia and Azerbaijan. Among other things, we provide shelter, legal aid and education.

Internally displaced people

The number of people displaced in their own country increases dramatically during the 1990s. Common to all internally displaced people is that their country’s authorities cannot or will not provide the protection that all states should provide to their own citizens. In many cases, people are actually forced to flee by their own authorities, such as in Rwanda, Sudan, Sri Lanka and the Balkans, to name a few of the great humanitarian disasters of the time.


NRC works actively to draw up international guidelines for legal standards for protection and assistance to internally displaced people. We also establish, with the support of the UN, the International Displacement Monitoring Centre in Geneva to map and monitor the situation for this group.

IRAQ: A shepherd boy carrying his little sister witnesses oil refineries being set on fire during the US occupation of the country in 2003. Photo: Karim Sahib/AFPI/NTB

AFGHANISTAN: NRC returns to Afghanistan in 2003. This work forms an important part of our efforts in the 2000s. Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC

PALESTINE: A Palestinian family is in despair after the Israeli army levels their house in the West Bank in 2010. Photo: Hazem Bader/AFP/NTB

UGANDA: At the beginning of the 2000s, NRC distributes food to one million internally displaced people in the northern parts of the country over a period of several years. Photo: Roald Høvring/NRC

IRAQ: A shepherd boy carrying his little sister witnesses oil refineries being set on fire during the US occupation of the country in 2003. Photo: Karim Sahib/AFPI/NTB

AFGHANISTAN: NRC returns to Afghanistan in 2003. This work forms an important part of our efforts in the 2000s. Photo: NRC/Christian Jepsen.

PALESTINE: A Palestinian family is in despair after the Israeli army levels their house in the West Bank in 2010. Photo: Hazem Bader/AFP/NTB

UGANDA: At the beginning of the 2000s, NRC distributes food to one million internally displaced people in the northern parts of the country over a period of several years. Photo: NRC/Roald Høvring

The 2000s

The fight against terrorism

The decade is marked by bloody wars, the fight against terrorism and the invasion of Iraq and Afghanistan. In Africa, bloody civil wars in Sierra Leone and Liberia shock the whole world. The tsunami that hits several countries on Christmas Day 2004 results in great destruction and suffering. The term “climate refugee” becomes widely used as global warming and climate change receive more attention.

At the beginning of 2005, there are 36.5 million displaced people in the world. Of these, about 25 million are displaced within their own country. The number of asylum seekers in industrialised countries is at its lowest for 16 years, and it becomes increasingly difficult for refugees to obtain protection outside their home country.


NRC conducts extensive humanitarian aid work in Sierra Leone, Liberia, Uganda, DR Congo and Angola. At the beginning of the 2000s, work in the Balkans makes up almost half of our activity. In addition, we start humanitarian aid work in a number of new countries: Afghanistan, Pakistan, Lebanon, Palestine, East Timor, Somaliland and Myanmar.

Afghanistan: a war without end

Following the terrorist attack in New York on 11 September 2001, the United States attacks the Taliban regime in Afghanistan. Before the attack, there are about 3.5 million Afghan refugees in neighbouring Pakistan and Iran. Today, 20 years later, there are still 2.2 million Afghan refugees in the two countries.


Just before the attack on 7 October 2001, NRC realises that the war could develop into the greatest humanitarian catastrophe in recent times, so we set up an office in Pakistan to provide assistance to newly arrived refugees from Afghanistan. In 2003, we expand our humanitarian aid work to include internally displaced people in Afghanistan, and in 2012, we start relief work for Afghan refugees in Iran.

The Middle East: ongoing instability

The conflict between Israel and the Palestinian people in the occupied territories and Gaza continues into the new decade. Israel’s attack on Hezbollah in Lebanon in the summer of 2006 increases tensions and humanitarian suffering in the region.


In Lebanon, we help returned refugees to rebuild their homes after the devastation caused by the war in the summer of 2006. In the occupied West Bank, we offer, among other things, legal assistance to families who have been forced from their homes and whose homes are destroyed.

Uganda: food for one million people

In northern Uganda, the Lord’s Resistance Army forces hundreds of thousands to flee their homes. Many seek refuge in camps, without the opportunity to feed themselves. Several thousand children are kidnapped and forced to serve as child soldiers.


NRC starts working in Uganda in the 1990s. At the beginning of the 2000s, we expand our aid, and over several years we distribute food to one million internally displaced people in the northern parts of the country. This is the largest food distribution operation the world has ever seen.

SYRIA: Thousands of Syrian refugees flee across the border into Iraq in the summer of 2013. Photo: Christian Jepsen/NRC

LEBANON: A Syrian refugee from Raqqa talks to one of NRC’s employees in a camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley during the summer of 2014. Photo: Sam Tarling/NRC

GREECE: A woman and her child arrive on the Greek island of Lesvos in the autumn of 2015. Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/NTB

LIBYA: The civilian population flees the city of Sirt in the autumn of 2011. Photo: Bela Szandelszky/AP/NTB

YEMEN: Ali Mohammed and his family flee their home in the Kushar district in 2019. Photo: Mohammed Awadh/NRC

SYRIA: Thousands of Syrian refugees flee across the border into Iraq in the summer of 2013. Photo: NRC/Christian Jepsen

LEBANON: A Syrian refugee from Raqqa talks to one of NRC’s employees in a camp in Lebanon’s Bekaa Valley during the summer of 2014. Photo: NRC/Sam Tarling

GREECE: A woman and her child arrive on the Greek island of Lesvos in the autumn of 2015. Photo: Dimitar Dilkoff/AFP/NTB