United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration
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The United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration (UNRRA) was founded in 1943 to provide relief to areas liberated from Axis powers after World War II. UNRRA provided billions of US dollars of rehabilitation aid, and helped about 8 million refugees. It ceased operations in the DP camps of Europe in 1947, and in Asia in 1949, upon which it ceased to exist. Its functions were transferred to several UN agencies, including the International Refugee Organization.
[edit] Founding and authority
The Agreement for United Nations Relief and Rehabilitation Administration founding document was signed by 44 countries in Washington, November 9, 1943. UNRRA was headed by a Director-General, and governed by a Council (composed of representatives of all state parties) and a Central Committee (composed of representatives of the US, the UK, China and the USSR).
Although the UNRRA was called a "United Nations" agency, it was established prior to the founding of the United Nations. The explanation for this is that term "United Nations" was used at the time to refer to the Allies of World War II, having been originally coined for that purpose by Roosevelt in 1942.
The organization was subject to the authority of the Supreme Headquarters of the Allied Expeditionary Forces (SHAEF) in Europe and was directed by three Americans during the four years of its existence. Its first director-general was Herbert Lehman, former governor of New York. He was succeeded in March 1946 by Fiorello La Guardia, former mayor of New York City, who was in turn followed by Major General Lowell Ward in early 1947.
