3. A REACTIVE COMPREHENSIVE APPROACH
A fully fledged comprehensive policy with a great many components, was formally endorsed by UNHCR in 1992 for the treatment of the refugee movements in former Yugoslavia. It is currently being applied throughout the world at the instigation of industrialised countries. Critiques have argued that the primary purpose of such an approach was to ensure that the smallest number possible of refugees would reach the industrialised world. It includes preventive action, intervention in the country of origin, in-country protection, restrictive measures on asylum, regional containment, temporary protection, repatriation; it has been implemented through a variety of modes and instruments in varying combination according to the crisis involved and its geo-political situation. Refugee issues have been repoliticised as the end of the Cold War was a crucial catalyser making it possible to intervene in countries of origin. The sacrosanct sovereignty principle does not hold sway in the same manner any longer, as noted by UNHCR:

This is in keeping with a growing tendency for the international community to concern itself with conditions that until recently would have been treated as internal matters: violations of human rights, repression of minorities, indiscriminate violence and persecution. Such conditions can no longer be seen as falling within the realm of domestic concern, especially when they affect other countries by causing an outpouring of refugees (UNHCR quoted by Newland 1999 pp.17-18).

Direct intervention in several countries of origin illustrate this new trend as in Northern Iraq, Somalia, Haiti and Kosovo. A new conception of root causes has been formulated and implemented which does not as in the 80s address structural conditions of inequality, oppression, racism, authoritarianism and totalitarianism located within states and the international system (Joly and Surkhe 1997). The notion of early warning has faded. In the 90s narrower definition focuses on more immediate causes of refugee movements particularly as it guides the implementation of policies. This is what has warranted our choice of the adjective reactive appended to comprehensivisation. Unwittingly refugees have become prime agents motivating major international policies and intervention through their sheer numbers and movements. The debate among social scientists demonstrates the complexities of the issues and the difficulties of unravelling implications for policies (Joly and Surhke 1997). The comprehensive approach has been evaluated positively by some scholars in its aspects involving political reconciliation, the rehabilitation of institutions of government and civil society, the international supervision of elections, the economic reconstruction (Newland 1999); she identifies a number of ‘innovative’ measures such as temporary protection, safe-havens, cross-border delivery of assistance and the use of peace keeping troops for the delivery of humanitarian assistance (Newland 1999). But the comprehensive approach is more often criticised for its deleterious impact on protection through inter alia prioritising the keeping of refugees as close as possible to the country of origin and returning them as soon as possible.

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